Recording Live Instruments Options

[dannyboy]

hi everybody! ive been makeing music of variouse types for years, staring on a playstation of all things. Athough simple music2000 had some clean sounds and a good sequencing setup, i learned loads in my spair time. Enevitably i became bored of the sounds and general bounderies posed by the program so started looking for something with a bit more power than a ps1 with a memory card! Being into graphics, Music etc i decided to save money and buy a mac. I wanted something quite powerfull and expandable so i chose th 1.2 gig duel g4 at the time. So, ive invested in reason 2.0 due to my electronic musical influences as it seemed at first to cater for everything i could need!

Now this leads me to my question that i hope somebody could shed some light on?

Due to my ignorance and neglect to the instrumental music industry for some time i have no idea how to connect and record live instruments to reason. Ive been playing guitars (bass, electric 6,Electric 12 etc) or trying for some time now and it has dawned on me that i should use instruments more in my music makeing! Now is there any way of recording, sampleing or any technique to reason, if so what do i do and what do i need to buy yo get started?
If not then what sort of equipment is sufficient to get started at a basic level of quality?


Any help is greatly appreciated!!

Dan.