How to record guitar at home for free

• A guitar, acoustic or electric.
• A way to get sound in. Your laptop’s built-in mic works for a first try. A USB microphone is a big step up for acoustic guitar. For electric guitar, a USB audio interface or an amp-modeling pedal with USB gives the cleanest signal.
• Headphones. Any pair. They stop the playback of earlier tracks from leaking into the new one.
• A browser such as Chrome, Edge or Safari, and Fretnook’s recorder.

Open the recorder and press Listen. Allow microphone access, then pick your input from the dropdown if you have more than one.

Play the loudest part of the song and watch the input meter. You want it moving well into the middle of the meter without hitting the top. Too hot and it distorts; too quiet and you will hear hiss when you turn it up later. Move the mic closer or further, or adjust the interface’s gain knob, until it sits right.

For an acoustic guitar, start with the mic about a hand’s width to a foot away, pointed where the neck meets the body. Right in front of the sound hole tends to sound boomy.

Set the tempo (type a BPM or tap it in) and turn on the click. Leave Count-In on so you get one bar of clicks before recording starts. Recording to a click keeps every layer lined up and makes editing far easier.

Arm a track and press Record. Play the whole part through, even if you make a small mistake; you can fix it in a minute. The click is only in your headphones and is never recorded.

Arm the next track and record the next part while the first one plays back: rhythm guitar, then a second rhythm panned the other way, then lead, then vocals. Fretnook starts with 8 tracks and goes up to 24.

Need a beat? Program one in the drum machine and bounce it to a track. Want to jam over a riff? Build it in the looper and bounce that too.

In the Mixer, balance the levels first, then pan, EQ and add a little reverb. The mixing and mastering guide covers this in detail.

Press Export WAV for a full-quality file, Export Compact for a small file to text or email, or Export Stems to finish the mix elsewhere. Want people to see you play it? Film it and export a music video with the finished mix as the soundtrack.