GarageBand FAQ: Plug in Guitar

Q. Can I plug my electric guitar into my Mac to record in GarageBand?
[Related Entries : Amp Line-Out , Built In Only , Feedback Line-In , Guitar Tuner , Interfaces , Keyboard Compatibility , MobilePre Noise , Monitoring , Record From Headphone , Record Line-In , Record Using Audio Interface , Simultaneous Tracks ]

A. In general, no, not if you want good results. Most Macs have a Line-Level input and a guitar’s output, called Instrument-Level, isn’t "loud" enough (unless it has an active pickup, one which takes a battery). You really need a Preamp, USB Interface, or FireWire interface of some sort. And even at that, to really capture the sound of a guitar the preferred method is to use a Microphone with an interface and mic your guitar amp.

The only exception so far reported, is that the iMac G5 has a built in preamp on it's line-in. I can't confirm this, or know if any other machine has one, but several users have reported it to be so with the iMac G5.
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GarageBand from Apple Computer uses audio loops and MIDI loops in Apple Loops format. It can work with Audio Units plug-ins. Apple Macintosh Compatible FireWire and USB interfaces can be used to connect Audio and MIDI instruments to your Mac, and be recorded into GarageBand.

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