How to Record Guitar at Home On A Budget

👉 Low Budget & Pro Setup Suggestions Here: www.justinguit... Learn how to record guitar at home with an easy setup. Recording yourself playing guitar can be a GREAT way to improve your playing, plus it's a lot of fun. Learn the basics of home guitar recording here! #justinguitar #guitar #guitarforbeginners
Please SUBSCRIBE ► bit.ly/jgtr-sub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated!
►►► Check out ‪@JustinGuitarSongs‬ for tutorials on your favs!
Video Chapters
00:00 Guitar for Beginners - Why record yourself playing
03:37 Guitar for Beginners - Online Jams
04:55 Guitar for Beginners - Recording & Songwriting
05:16 How to record guitar at home - Requisites
06:03 How to record guitar at home - Software
08:30 How to record guitar at home - Audio interface
09:30 How to record guitar at home - Microphone
11:15 How to record guitar at home - Kemper Profile
13:00 How to record guitar at home - Tips for Beginners
🎵 See JustinGuitar.com for over 1800 completely free lessons! A super effective, highly structured online guitar course with a motivational Practice Assistant! 🎸 You’ll be able to track your progress, set a practice routine, get PDF downloads, and get help with lessons. Just like private classes with me! :)
🚀 Looking to LEVEL UP your guitar skills? Check my Practical Music Theory course - The best music theory course available on the web! bit.ly/jgtr-theory
👉 Check out www.teespring.... for my best-selling (paper!) songbooks, cool guitar-related t-shirts, and much more!
• Website www.justinguit...
• Theory Course bit.ly/jgtr-theory
• JustinGuitar Beginner Song App go.onelink.me/...
• Store (books/t-shirts/more) www.teespring....
• Jam Tracks bit.ly/jgtr-jams
• Instagram bit.ly/jgtr-ins...
• Facebook bit.ly/jgtr-fac...
• Twitter bit.ly/jgtr-twi...
• Forum bit.ly/jgtr-com...
• Workshops bit.ly/jgtr-wor...

[@justinguitar]

Learn how to play standing up here! kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZvYd2CpfrBlapo&t=

[@dawson5262]

Hey could you do a tutorial on “A country boy can survive”👏

[@antananariivu6916]

Birds - İmagine dragons. PLZ🥺

[@ronskiecovers1903]

you the best sir

[@northof50now]

Congrats Justin. I learned that you were named one of the top 15 guitar teachers of all time by Now Guitar Magazine.

[@Yu2beFool]

It's my personal opinion, but to my experience, a teacher can only be good if he (or she) understands 100% what is taught. I generally believe Justin Sandercoe is such a musician. He better be glad I'm not living in the same street like he is, for I'd spend hours in his studio, I guess... ;-)

[@roeatep]

He is the best of all time.

[@yasminb.6369]

@@Yu2beFool for me the same country would be enough to travel there, but I don’t leave anywhere near 😅

[@titmusspaultpaul5]

I would have said top 5 but very well done... cheers mate.

[@roozbehfakhr]

Well deserved

[@PedroFerreira-yo1ud]

Hey man! My dad watched your videos 11 years ago, I was 6 by that time. Since he started learning from you, I loved guitar playing and he teached me what he learned from your videos. Somehow you made me have interess on guitar and I'm very thankful for you! Pedro Puertas - SP, Brazil

[@PedroFerreira-yo1ud]

yo, what the hell r u saying dude?

[@mrpotato4441]

LMAO@@PedroFerreira-yo1ud

[@harishamdan9817]

I'm not coming here to learn guitar today. I'm here just listening to Justin talking like a podcast because he's a great speaker

[@BeatsAndGuitars]

At a very basic level a looper pedal can be a way to start recording as well.

[@yoyo-rs6wz]

I just wanna say thanks man. I’ve been watching your tutorials since 2016 when I first learned ukulele. In 2017, I bought my first acoustic guitar and watched your videos to learn. A year later I bought my first electric guitar and I still watch your videos since then. You have honestly taught me a lot and I appreciate these videos. Thanks for everything you do🙏

[@fraenkiboii]

I suffer from red light fever. I practice and practice and when I'm really happy and I played a solo through, as soon as I press the record button, it seems it's all gone and I stumble. I hate it.

[@ergelen2821]

Try recording as sessions multiple times than just cut them

[@Yu2beFool]

This never gets old, but it comes to practice and practice. I've been playing for years before I started recording on tape. Then after a long pause, I started recording on computer. The difference is not that the quality is better than a 2-track deck (very slightly, but almost no noise), but the main difference is that in the old days I used to plug my amp into my deck, so I heard the same sound as when I practised. Now I often record via my headphones and a hardware amp without the speakers or an amp emulator. Since my headphones are so much better than any speaker I could ever afford, I can hear every mistake (ringing, pulling off too early, picking too heavy...) and it's frustrating sometimes. I guess we have to get used to this and then we get back to concentrate on our play, instead of the technical quality. That will definitely result in better play and eventually a better result (but it takes time, we know that, don't we?)

[@dctp65]

Totally agree with every word, Justin. I have been following Justin's lessons for nearly 4 years and can't support more strongly all he encouraged here. In particular, joining up with the Community, recording and sharing. It is incredibly supportive and encouraging and can close that gap for feedback that you may have when following on-line lessons.

[@HylianLegend]

8 people who dislike this are wrong

[@mairenared]

As Robert Burns famously said, "O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us, To see oursels as others see us". Totally agree that recording yourself gives you a different perspective of your playing. I always remember as a language student listening back to my own voice in the language lab and learning a lot about my pronunciation. I currently use a looper to lay down some accompaniment but would like to add in drums, bass and keyboards to make a proper track. You've given me loads of great ideas here. Many thanks.

[@toddgarman3296]

Great video Justin, thank you for sharing your knowledge!!! The timing was perfect as I am starting to dabble with recording.

[@SuperRealhigh]

Damn, this hobby is keeping on getting more and more expensive haha, great video thanks man

[@carlodecao4139]

Dude Is that a Marcus Aurelius bust in the background? My respect for you has increased instantly 100%

[@jamjar20049]

If you happen to have a Katana amp like Justin does, you can use that quite successfully an an interface. It will be recognised by any Daw as such. All tones and effects are available to use. Playback through the amp's speaker if you want, and monitor yourself via the headphone jack for silent recording. For vocals try a dynamic mike with a bit of 'green' boost and add plate reverb and delay to taste. I don't have mine any longer, but it is another great advantage of owning one.

[@Keninoz1]

Thanks for the video. GarageBand served me well as a DAW for many years. I've recently upgraded to LogicPro-X (around $300). Given its similarity to GarageBand, it was an easy transition. Guitar Rig 5 Pro was another good investment (around $300) & easy to use for obtaining an enormous range of amp models, plus free downloads are available for an increasing number of individual songs. Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro (80 ohm) enclosed headphones (around $250), a PreSonus AudioBox 22VSL interface (around $220), a pair of PreSonus E5 studio monitors (around $450) and a pair of ISO Acoustics monitor stands (around $150) complete my basic setup. I've recently bought an Xvive wireless system (about $150 & no noticeable latency) which has eliminated the need for cables cluttering my desk. This makes the total cost around $1800 at current prices excluding the Mac desktop computer along with a couple of microphones & mic stands, which I already had. I bought these items over the past five years (therefore around $300 per year) as I learned more about what I needed. All this gear is simple to use & easy to set up.

[@MatthijsKoningstein]

Cakewalk is awesome too. And free!

[@charlezleeroy4216]

Man!! Justin is just the best all around. It's been years I've been learning and been inspired by this guy... More recording tips please 🔥🔥🔥🎸🎸🎸

[@carlosmanuelgonzalez310]

I use Audacity to record my guitar using my Digitech RP255 USB output to the computer. always against a clic-track made in audacity that I can mute after the recording is done

[@Aderthadlothar]

GarageBand is just amazing, and as an electric guitar player that has a Katana (or any amp with USB out), you can USB straight into GB, use either the effects of the Katana, or Garageband, or both! It is crazy how plug and play this is. Definitely come a long way from using my walkman cassette recorder...

[@iraceruk]

Audacity is fantastic! Multi-tracking, effects, it's really easy to use and it's free! 👍

[@dylandestroyer524]

You make the best videos for sure Justin have learned a lot many thanks .

[@johnbrackett6993]

Great info Justin. I've set my whole rig up to always record myself. It's immensely helpful, and really enforces playing correctly.

[@Brewer_]

I've only been playing about 5 weeks and I just propped my phone up and recorded myself playing. I found my chord changes are actually faster than i thought they were. Whilst playing I thought I was leaving long gaps between switches but I'm not :)

[@milton9774]

You are perfect. I am learning a lot with this video. Thanks for your time to teach us. Thanks from Slovakia

[@sergedenovo2389]

Good pointers about not buying expensive(more complicated) things in the beginning.

[@ROCEREDSKULLDesign]

Justin is the reason I can play guitar. 2008 to 2020 and into the future.

[@military4606]

Thank you so much for Sharing

[@justinguitar]

You are welcome! :)

[@quixoticindiscipline9524]

Tackling exactly the topics I need. I also think, besides recording your own songs, trying to cover other songs and trying to imitate the way the instruments sound in the track teaches a lot

[@filnn]

Just a quick tip, Audacity isn't for recording music. You can do so, but I'd recommend using Bandlab by Cakewalk, which is free and has a professional feel.

[@gamecat666]

yep same, I wouldnt recommend Audacity at all for music. I'd go straight to Reaper.

[@100thschool]

tbh i still use audacity when it's basic guitar layering or single recording. you can mix full solo performance on guitar just fine in audacity. issue arises when you want to do full arrangement with midi and other instruments. but yea, i think justin did very dumb comparing daw to audio editor like it's same league, and never even mentioned reaper being free alternative to garageband or logic

[@devvkhemani3628]

@@100thschool reaper is free?

[@Big_Bag_of_Pus]

Audacity was originally written for Linux. Cakewalk, Reaper and so on aren't available on Linux so they're not alternatives there.

[@100thschool]

@@Big_Bag_of_Pus lmms or better yet Ardour is linux alternative

[@JohnWilson-de6fd]

Hi Justin. I saw this video at exactly the right time for me. I re-started playing in May this year, invested in a Harley Benton PRS copy with P90s to complement my acoustic, began trying to become comfortable with my own ambitions and limitations (rather than match Jimi note for note!); after all we're all happy windsurfing and mountain biking within our capabilities. I've just upgraded to a Katana 50 II (on your and Andertons' recommendations), plugged it into my laptop to explore its range of tones and realised I could start recording into Audacity. Just like nobody likes hearing how their own voice sounds, it's truly terrifying to hear your own rubbish technique and lack of musicality! You've (again) given me the inspiration to go to the next level. Many thanks and I'm bunging another tenner your way!

[@fred4664]

As a beginner at recording i use Garage Band on an I pad rather than a computer. It was necessary to buy an audio interface that had a power supply because the I pad does not supply enough power for the audio interface. It’s a starting point.

[@nisri1567]

Great! I would be glad, if you could tell us something about looper too. You are my favorite guitarist and teacher man, thank you soooo much.

[@Ocean8881]

I must command your for the knowledge Justin but I was hoping for a demonstration on setting up equipment for guitar recording especially with the use of a phone.

[@smiley50ish]

I bought a looper and record backing tracks then dub over them starting at slower speeds so i can play them back as you say great fun

[@MusicMakesMyDay]

I just can double that! Record and listen and repeat - such a big help and a big tip!

[@ozmassb2594]

Hey Justin! I know your channel isn’t very gear forward, but knowing you have an original Uni Vibe unit, can you do a shoot out between others available on the market? It’d be great to see with your production quality and play grade.

[@ianwillett4009]

Great advice Justin. Thanks

[@JJ-bm2jj]

Great Info, thanks

[@simoncook2251]

Awesome information Justin. It’s also useful to add most recording packs with all the hardware included come with basic versions of software that should get most people started and recording for a few years at least. I still use a lite version of a DAW from 10 years ago.

[@jbatista9789]

Great video! When I first began recording guitar at home, I started off just using Audacity and a Blue Snowball Ice USB mic. Got some pretty decent recordings with that setup too up until I upgraded to proper mics and an interface.

[@benjaminchacko3582]

Thank you Justin. Good information 👍

[@cylonhibrid]

A lot of good advice here 😃

[@yashguleria926]

Im in love with this guitar

[@johnmacmillan627]

Very helpful, thanks. Interested to know about acoustic guitars and using a microphone instead of direct connection

[@EzRiffs]

Great video Justin! Garage band is an excellent tool to make Demos as well! 👏🏾👏🏾

[@michamarkun6078]

"Buy the best you can afford and look after it" - I just love it 🙂 What's your opinion on clip-on microphones (not pickups) for acoustic/classical guitars (for example iRig Acoustic Stage)? Which one would you recommend? Other viewers' opinion also much appreciated.

[@samwheeler-brown7458]

Weirdly, I’ve always found my practice bears fruit in sudden huge leaps that are super noticeable, as opposed to anything incremental. Not sure if I’m just doing it wrong or what, but one day I’ll just wake up and be able to do the thing I’ve struggled with the last couple of months. Super cool feeling though, pretty sure it’s what’s given me a lot of the positive feedback guitar can give back

[@anthonyward8587]

Been watching your channel since you started, brilliant.Thanks for your tips, Justin. All the best from Melbourne man.

[@johnmjones1604]

dude you make stuff so much easer thank you

[@acapellaash1275]

This was so incredibly helpful!! Thanks Justin!!

[@johnmjones1604]

Hi Justin i use to play guitar in the mid 90s i gave up but now i need inspiration and motivation

[@davidbradley9979]

Always very good information ,thank you, Justin ,

[@Michael-jv2cn]

So easy to listen to man. Keep up the great work!

[@fernandamccormack]

I started recording myself on my phone. Now i use audacity. I record with a good condenser mic. Everything sounds nice but to buy all those things... Well it takes time. Nice advice though.xx

[@XLBiker13]

Very helpful. And yes, you absolutely inspired me to start recording. Just ordered some gear to kick this off. Thanks.

[@msenecal]

Reaper is a great DAW. Everyone I know uses it. And it is free.

[@jeffreybower5959]

i have bandlab on windows 10 pro, google pixelbook and my LG Stylo 5 android phone and its FREE!! the best part is i can plug my electric guitar into my google pixelbook or my windows 10 pro using the usb guitar cable, the cabel was under $20 usd dollars on amazon and the closed back headphones are also under $50 usd dollars on amazon! cheap can be better to start with til you can work your way up or stay with what you have!! also it has a built in guitar tuner!!

[@tdunster2011]

My rig is very basic - UR22 mkII, SM57, Cubase 9.5, and Amplitube IV.

[@marcelnadeau7064]

This video is just what I needed. Is video recording difficult while playing guitar ?

[@KE010101]

Many good ideas and suggestions you gave here.

[@fendr1962]

I purchased a basic Pro Tools software which at the time included and audio interface. Along with that purchased two really nice Yamaha M80 speakers and a Shure condenser microphone. I probably had $1500 into this setup. My computer was an Apple MAC. I bought this equipment over 15 years ago while I was still working full time and taking care of my family. Consequently I did very little with this equipment. When I did record with it sounded like something you could record on a cassette tape recorder. Which was very discouraging to say the least. And on top of that I have been paying the $100 a year ( till last year it went up to $200 a year) to get the updates. I know pretty sad or dumb I know. And yes it is not very intuitive to use. I really am not able to make decent recordings do to my lack of knowledge.If I was smarter I would have just used Garage Band.

[@JuddLofthouse]

Great stuff thank you

[@johnmjones1604]

Iv always preferred British guitar teachers like justin i cant deal with American guitar tutors

[@user-qm7nw7vd5s]

Absolutely Real World Advice 👍👍

[@Lordyosch]

Thanks Justin. I use Reaper on PC. I found it easy to learn the very basics but I think it has a lot more capability than I make use of.

[@michaelchappell6570]

Great tips Justin, I have only recorded myself with my Cell Phone way back when a beginner, now more advanced I still record things I do and the songs I have written with my Cell..But would like to download some Jam tracks. But you are right , I have gone down the track in many recording studios when I was a semi-pro drummer in the 60's with bands that were recording songs, it's very different..so now a guitarist I can imagine the record Red button would be daunting even using my Looper..all good got to do it like you say. Stay safe- Michael Sydney Australia

[@PaulTheSkeptic]

Doing the thing I like to do seems to be the most difficult and complicated. Electronic music guys, all they really need is a phone and go. You don't even really need a keyboard. And those who just want to record one instrument, that's also pretty basic. But if you want a band with drums, vocals and recorded instruments alongside electronic, it's such a pain. I feel like I've already put the time into learning how to play and now I have to learn a whole new skill that I don't really want to learn except that I want to record myself and my music.

[@AndyInTheUK]

Spot on Justin! It is nice to discover that I have been doing it right for a year or so. I love my Boss BR-800. Not a whole lot of money but loads of features, though it is pretty old technology now. There must be loads of digital recording gadgets that do the same sort of thing. Worth saying, if you use a DAW (I don't bother though), unless you get a digital recording gadget you can only record with a microphone, so you would need an amplifier. The DAW's I have tried (Audacity, Garage Band, Ardour, but not LMMS) can record via USB from the BR-800 (or any other USB enabled gadget). It is quite handy to be able to record without waking the neighbours. :-)

[@bigsteve9291]

What a great point being an x drummer back in our day we used tape to tape back then in the 70s recording your self as great benefits listening to your self was that full to early was your timing right bass drum with bass guitar it as huge benefits to your playing first listen to myself playing to diamonds jet Harris and tony muin think that's how you spell it lol but there no better way to learn in my book

[@chrissullins3]

I use a Zoom H6 which is portable and leaves plenty of room to grow. Have used it for guitar, but also for relatives for voice and piano.

[@tejprasadpaudel8221]

very informative. loved it .

[@jonskaptason8840]

Excellent talk, as always. Since Windows computers outnumber Apple computers by about 10 to 1 or more, a brief mention of Band in a Box might have been appropriate...?

[@joeurbanowski321]

Thanks..! Great advice

[@thedayvischannel]

Thanks alot for the advice.

[@davidsmontgomery]

Thanks!

[@justinguitar]

Thanks for the thanks 😊

[@markstumbris4453]

Garage Band is fantastic I'll look into Logic Pro X, and bluetooth latency is a problem for robotics as well.

[@_-Skeptic-_]

Cakewalk by BandLab is free, runs on windows and mac.

[@keithskelton5596]

Hey Justin Could you please list a basic set up Mike Camera Stands Thanks 👍🏽🌈

[@georgenikou]

So that's what I feel, "Red light fever" lol

[@user-ik8xl2yk1g]

Awesome advice!

[@chrishartmusic87]

Great video

[@antananariivu6916]

hey kind man! selam! could you show us how to play "Birds - İmagine dragons" on guitar, plz. ive been searching it far too long, still havent found it yet. my current target is to learn that song anyway. i think it will be easy for pro guitarist as you to show 3/4 chords in different places. thx in advance)))

[@lloydlowery1513]

Your enthusiasm for learning to record oneself is enough to encourage me to “give it a go.” Thanks!

[@EWCRC]

I use UbuntuStudio (Free Linux OS x86) to record and a GuitarRIG mobile USB interface to connect.

[@tushardimri1796]

Just what i was looking for

[@colincannings7946]

Where on Justin's site, will I find the recommendations, Justin talk about in this Recording video?

[@fraenkiboii]

I've got a rather technical question: I'm recording the line-out from my strymon iridium plugged into a mixer. I've got headphones connected to my mixer. The mixer is connected to my DAW. How can I get a click track into my headphones, without hearing it in the main mix?

[@tdunster2011]

Create a seperate track with the click in it for the recording. Then mute or delete the click track when you playback the final mix.

[@macalfredtv6868]

wow i can use that thank you ❤️

[@JoshZenpai]

i got ableton lite for free with the midi keyboard I brought ages ago lol

[@kiethyrich]

cakewalk by bandlab free full recording studio with allot of free vst's get it. its awesome!

[@MANANGKIKAYVLOG]

Very good i love it.

[@davidgross9751]

So my setup really low tech. Essentially a microphone plugged into the mic jack on the computer & a freeware recording program called Krystal. I had a 6 channel mixer to plug into it, but it stopped working. My finished product sounds a bit like a mixed audio cassette tape with a little background fuzz, but it works for my totally nonprofessional application. I might upgrade one day if get any good at what I'm doing & I have money to spend on it. David G.

[@100thschool]

ah yes, the pink mic-in. i actually love toan of it, i like to call this input a natural lo-fi guitar sound, especially nice sounding with sound hole mics that you attach inside guitar, so the "nonprofessional" use can be argued against popularity of this genre and your use of it

[@davidgross9751]

Thanks, 100th School. So it is a thing. I thought I was just being cheap. 😄 I'm from the cassette era, so their can be a bit of nostalgia in it. I actually have a couple of audio tapes some where when I was starting out. I turned the tape recorder & recorded myself. Much more fuzz in those.

[@rudivorster4442]

Justin! What is that on your lap?? Is that new? Looks gorgeous !

[@pevsfreedom]

Regarding electric guitars: Do you want to just get a USB interface and plug in directly and use say GarageBand, or do you want to mic up your amp and have that signal go in? I'm trying to start recording again, and I did the amp>mic>usb thing before and remember having a lot of issues getting the mic and combo amp to sound nice in non-studio atmosphere (noise/reverb issues).

[@justinguitar]

Hi Pevsfreedom - you'll find lots of helpful discussion and helpful people who can maybe answer some of your questions in the JustinGuitar community - this category community.justinguitar.com/c/gear-tools-talk/hardware-software-recroding/254 Cheers 😊 | Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide & Approved Teacher www.justinguitar.com

[@GregHu77]

For Linux there is Ardour Justin!

[@carlosmanuelgonzalez310]

LMMS too!

[@554LH]

Perfect timing, staying at home to avoid Covid, I’ve spent the summer exploring home recording. Working a few simple cord patterns into actual songs gave me a real sense of accomplishment (and little souvenirs of the summer). DIY is way cool 😎

[@etherealessence]

Have you seen the price of apple computers compared to similarly spec'd PCs? Garage band is not free. At least it helps justify the premium.

[@Patrick-qc4zy]

Hey justin can you do a chords vid for Roaring jack playing for the traffic?

[@jimbo1959]

If my guitar hero heard me play, he'd probably hand me a set of spoons!

[@tonytee4280]

What about Cakewalk?

[@BSAT10]

Hi Justin thanks for all the videos Audacity is great but doesn't handle latency automatically Reaper on the other hand does and is much more fully featured, it's still easy to learn the basics, Its free for 60days then a nag screen The full licence for as many computers as you want to use it on and free upgrades to is $60 thats the best money you can ever spend manuals free online or spiral bound version from Lulu