The point is we can even do nice guitar tracks without the real amp - just plug your guitar into Audio Interface instrument input and use Software Amp Simulations available with every DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).  

But since we have that amp - why not to use it? Let's make our recording as good as possible. Because software amps - as good as they became recently - they'll probably never match hardware characteristics and response. They are perfect for quick punch-in and record some demos or music ideas, they are good for trying different sounds when arranging but that's not the subject of my post today.

Let's make sure you have necessary stuff ready:
- guitar & amp -  I used ZION Bent T Super Strat type guitar with landed body/maple top and Joe Barden pickups. The amp is CORNFORD Hurricane 20W Combo.  The other video is a ZION reverse head guitar with BOGNER XTC amp (green channel) with Ibanez Tubescreamer TS9 pedal.

- micophone - dynamic mike is our 1st choice: Shure SM57, industry standard since decades or whatever you have. The microphone I am using at home is my favourite Sennheiser E906. If your room has been adapted for acoustic recording you can add condenser microphone too. Mine is not, so I use dynamics only. They are getting sound from near field so they room characteristic is almost not present in the recording when the amp is turned up a little.
- closed headphones for monitoring if you want to record with backing tracks or metronome
- computer audio interface and computer with DAW software (more on this in the next future)

After connecting everything and making yourself as comfortable as possible to play the best of you there comes the time for "soundcheck" and microphone preamp gain adjustment.  This is probably the most important part of recording engineer's job so take your time and make sure you'll get the best sound out of your amp. Place the microphone as close to the amp/cabinet speaker as possible. Then adjust the gain of mic preamp so that recorded signal has the biggest possible dynamic range without distortion. And do not mistake that with the tube amp distortion/overdrive effect which is desirable in many musical situations. What I mean now is the "digital' distortion of the signal being recorded. If you set the microphone input gain too high then the signal will be too loud for Analog-Digital converter in your interface and the resulted recording will have unpleasant artifacts which are impossible to correct in post-recording production process.

Check the pictures of recorded signals of various levels. Picture on the left shows correct signal level - there is enough "headroom" - distance between signal peaks and top/bottom of audio dynamic range. Opposite to the picture on the right where you see the signal got too much gain and it's exceeding the track window which means you will hear also very unpleasant artifacts and the audio recorded will be actually useless.

Now check my solo with every idea highlighted. Hope you will enjoy:)

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• Place the mike as close to the instrument as possible without interrupring your playing comfort. By doing so you minimalize room influence. In my case this is about 20 cm from 12th fret. This placement gives pretty big and balanced sound of the guitar. At the same time it gives quite a lot finger/string noise but that is what I  don't mind at all as a listener :)
• Make sure you optimize gain level of mic-pre so that you are able to capture full dynamic range of your instrument without overdriving the signal. That overdrive is heard as unpleasant buzz and is visible as signal peaks in you DAW that reach the borders or audio track/region. The distorted signal is impossible to repair in further process. So consider input gain setting as the MOST IMPORTANT part of recording process and take enough time to optimize the signal level.
• Connect your guitar output to another input in the audio interface  - it should be "instrument" or "Hi-Z" input if available. Here adjust the gain properly as well.
• If you're recording with metronome or backing track then get a closed headphones and  adjust the mix for maximum aural comfort. Make sure you'll be using direct monitoring to avoid any latency. If your AI doesn't have a direct monitoring output then better use open type headphones and adjust the backing level so that you can hear your guitar acoustically well but no backing tracks nor metronome beep shall be present in recorded signal.
• Be realaxed in your whole body and mind when playing. Make sure you've practiced enough and you know the music.  If not you'll probably get annoyed and tired of making millions of takes. Usually you should get the music nailed in 3-5 takes.  That applies to memorized music, if you record improvised parts then it can take easily more takes. Anyway after recording 3-5 takes get a break, listen to them and decide what to do with them.

Don't forget that this is not a studio situation. It's always a compromise and you can't reach studio quality without spending lots of money on room adaptation and purchasing studio-level gear. What you can obtain is acceptable sound quality. That should be enough for demos or promo recordings and it should cost really small money. Do not invest in expensive gear - rather make sure your hardware and software is simple to operate, user-friendly and has all features important for the situation. And the situation is: we are recording musiacian and recording engineer at the same time. 

The guitar is a Guild F65CE medium deep body with cutaway - so not the biggest sounding guitar.  I mixed the piezo DI signal appr. 35% and microphone appr. 65 %.

​Below you can as well have a listen to 100% dry tracks, without any effects: