Recording electric guitar onto PC

I was wondering if there was any free software for recording electric guitar onto a pc via an adaptor from the guitar cable to the line in port?

I am going to visit a friend who lives a couple of hundred miles away and because they have no music software for recording I was wondering if there was some free software I could download to record his guitar riffs on his pc before transferring them to my pc when I come home.

Also is there any such software which would not require an amp to record through? This is because my friends amp has been taken to university while I am visiting him at home.

Thanks for any help you can give.

I am pretty sure Audacity is the answer :slight_smile:



http://audacity.sourceforge.net/



Not sure if its possible to record a guitar riff without the amp but then I am not a guitarist

You’ll need either a sound card with a built in pre amp or an amp yes. This is because you need something to boost the signal that comes from the guitar.

Can both of you understand how to read music?

If so just have him/her score it out.

Then when you get home you can write it in your DAW.

Other than that I can’t think of any free way as it really comes down to hardware not so much the software.

Without an amp you would be going in direct and there needs to be an interface between the guitar and the computer to transfer it from analog to digital.

If you had an amp then you could plug a mic in the computer and record what comes through the amp.