Home recording for dummies (Guitar specifically)

[Tax Evader]

Following the 'guitar warriors' thread has reignited my desire to do something I've meant to look in to for a while - home recording.

I'm sure this is opening a huge can of 33% extra worms, but where do I start?

All I have at the moment is a fairly decent spec PC (though I can have anything I want if needed), and my guitars and amps. I'm interested in recording both acoustic and electric guitar, and I want to record the sound that comes out of the speaker on the amp (or the guitar, if acoustic) - I don't like the thought of Direct Input into a 'board'.

So how does one get from a simple MP3 backing track (like the slow blues one posted in a guitar thread recently), to one with my own work on it?

I guess the amp would need to be mic'd, and I need to be able to hear everything as i'm recording.. but beyond that I know nothing

Doing my own drum beats, bass etc..etc would be nice too, although I don't play those instruments - they would have to be software generated.

I'm fairly flexible on budget, but I'm by no means 'professional' - this is going to be a hobby for the home.

Over to the experts...

Thanks

 

[Tax Evader]

Ok, thanks for that guys

I need to process all that information when I've not had a few beers, hehe

How do you guys listen to the stuff as you're recording it?

Example - If i'm playing (and recording via a mic') through an amp I need to hear everything - the hypothetical background MP3 and what I'm playing. If I'm playing the background through a hifi then the mic would pic it up, so presumably it all has to be done through headphones. (?)

A friend who used to do this has given me his copy of 'Cakewalk' - not tried it yet though.

 

[Tax Evader]

Thanks, I need to digest all that!!