[Dixielandjazz] Some basic info sought about guitar style for Dixieland jazz

[Peter Dann]

My apologies if this question has been asked many times before. I am  
new to this list.

I am the trumpet player with a Dixieland jazz band which formed around  
18 months ago. In Australia, we call this style of band a 'trad jazz'  
band. It would be fair to describe our band as 'enthusiastic  
amateurs', in that, on the whole, our playing skills, including mine,  
do not exactly match our playing aspirations. We all have our  
challenges!

Rightly or wrongly, I have been trying to encourage our guitarist (we  
do not have a banjo) to play a steady two or four beats to the bar  
with very little variation (except when he solos), and with the sound  
damped somewhat between beats. I have picked up the impression that  
this is how the guitar should be played in this kind of music - but  
apart from pointing our guitarist to some specific musical examples  
(for example, some Eddie Condon tracks) I have been unable to find any  
very definite support anywhere for my view that this is how guitar  
'should' be played in this style of music.

It's quite possible, of course, that I am wrong.

I would appreciate hearing the opinions of members of this list on  
this topic. I would also be grateful if anyone could point me to any  
external source of information on this topic that our guitarist might  
possibly regard as 'authoritative' in this area.

Regards,

Peter Dann