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How to Play Guitar on a Laptop

Whether you're a college-age beginner musician or a seasoned professional, playing a guitar through a laptop has advantages. First and foremost, it beats carrying around an amp. Secondly, the laptop offers the ability to listen using headphones while playing. Finally, there's plenty of software available that allows you to experiment with different effects. If going to a gig, you probably won't want to use your laptop as an amp, but it's definitely possible to play guitar on it and work out a few riffs.

Things You'll Need

  • USB guitar adapter
  • Music recording software
  • 1/4" guitar cable
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Instructions

    • 1

      Download and install music recording software. You're not going to be recording any projects yet; you just want the laptop to recognize the guitar signal. Consider buying some cheap software or even downloading freeware such as Audacity. If you plan on creating recording projects in the future, look into Pro Tools, MixCraft or GarageBand.

    • 2

      Plug the male end of your USB guitar adapter into one of the laptop's USB ports.

    • 3

      Plug one end of the 1/4" guitar cable into the guitar's input jack. Plug the other end of this same cable into the USB guitar adapter's 1/4" "line in" jack.

    • 4

      Power on the laptop and open the recording software program. Set the "input device" to the USB guitar adapter. Begin playing the guitar to see if it's working. Make sure the input and output volumes--in the software program--are both turned up.

    • 5

      Select "Effects" from the toolbar menu of the recording program to experiment with different guitar effects while playing.

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Digital Music

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