I'm stupid, please help =]

[alatham]

Ok, you want to make multi-track guitar recordings. Possibly with vocals too. Probably not at the same time. This is definitely possible:
http://www.myspace.com/andylatham

The first thing to do is figure out how you're going to record the guitar. Do you have an amp modeler (like a POD)? Or are you just plugging an electric guitar straight into the sound card. Plugging straight in won't work very well, but it will give you something. Obviously you've gotten some mileage out of this.

I'll assume you've plugged into the Line In, but I'm not sure, so change that as you need to.

Now, you need to set your sound card software up so you can monitor the input. Close Audacity and double click the little speaker icon in your taskbar. Here, turn the volume up on Line In and make sure it's not muted. Now, you should be able to hear your guitar playing out of your speakers as you play (even with no other programs open). This is called Hardware Monitoring.

Now, open Audacity and go to the edit -> preferences -> audio i/o menu. Turn OFF "Software Playthrough" and turn ON "play other tracks...". Also, set your input to Line In. Set the number of input channels to 1 (mono). Now you should be able to record your guitar. You should also be able to record overdubs by recording a new one once the first is recorded and you should get no overlap.

Now, in order to record your voice on top of that, change the input in Audacity to Mic In (or whatever the mic is plugged in to). Wear some headphones and try recording. Does that work?

Let me know if anything goes wrong. I'll subscribe to this thread so I don't miss it again (I've been slacking on answering questions here).

[alkalinetrio]

Its all perfect (thank you!!!!) apart from the vocals. My mic (which is plugged into the place where the guitar was) still picks up the other tracks as well as recording my voice.

Any ideas?

[alkalinetrio]

Update: Cracked it! All set =] Thank you!!