Total Newbie

[knittingarch]

I have never recorded anything, except for on those push button portable tape players back when I was 10 or something. That said, I am getting back into music and a friend recommended this site to keep track of song since I don't know how to write them down yet. I've tested it out, and I have a problem. I can barely hear what I am playing. I am just playing an acoustic guitar into my computer's microphone. Is there something else I should be doing, something else I need to use?

Thanks so much!

[steve]

I can barely hear what I am playing. I am just playing an acoustic guitar into my computer's microphone.

Is that the built-in microphone on a laptop? If so, get another microphone. Almost ANY other microphone will be better and you can get it much closer to the guitar.
Microphone inputs on computers are pretty poor quality unless you have upgraded the sound card to one designed for music, but just using a cheap external mic will be a big improvement from the built in one, so may be enough to get you started.

You can make recorded tracks louder by selecting the track so that it is highlighted then using the Amplify effect (Effects menu).

Audacity 1.3.11 is much recommended over the (very old) 1.2.6 version.

See the "Tips" and "Tutorials" links at the top of this page for lots of help in getting started.
I think that this is one of the most important pages and will save you a lot of grief if you read it carefully: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/File_Management_Tips

[knittingarch]

Thanks! I will definitely get a microphone. I wondered if my built in mic was sufficient, since my built in speakers are substandard.