The term jazz guitar refers to several aspects of the guitar as it is used in jazz and jazz fusion music. The term may refer to a type of guitar or to the variety of jazz playing styles (e.g. chords, melodies, and improvised solo lines) performed by guitarists in different jazz genres. These jazz guitar styles were developed by decades of influential jazz guitarists. The guitar has a long history in jazz music, both as an ensemble instrument performing chordal accompaniment, and as a solo instrument.

In jazz ensembles of the 1920s, the banjo was the standard stringed, chord-playing rhythm instrument. Even as late as the early 1930s sophisticated jazz orchestras such as Duke Ellington's still used a banjo. In the late 1930s, guitar began being used in jazz ensembles to provide rhythmic chordal accompaniment, and by the 1940s, some guitarists began also playing a solo role. In the 1950s, jazz guitar became an important small combo instrument, a role that was continued in the 1960s and 1970s-era organ trios. In the 1970s and 1980s, a new language for jazz guitar was developed by the merging of jazz and rock styles in jazz fusion.