Good guidelines, but it takes more than that. I recently broke up with my gf of 5 years. It was the relationship, the one that was supposed to be the last, you know? We bought a house together, were planning on having kids, the works. We did all the things in Neemo's list and more. You practically lived our lives together (like I believe you should), you rarely saw one without the other and it didn't even take an effort on either's side.

If you would've told me about a year ago we'd end up breaking up I would've called you a friggin' nut. But for some reason, and I'm not quite sure what, we just kinda... I dunno, we just grew bored of each other. One day I just woke up thinking "is this it?". Couldn't say anything was really wrong about her, nothing irritating me or anything, just a general feeling of unease that all of the sudden fell over me. Turns out she was feeling the same way and we did try coming up with stuff we could work on for about a month or 10, but to no avail. In the end it was better that we let our past go and moved on.

This break-up was the easiest one I've ever had, which is really scary when you consider what we used to have.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is no magic formula. If you use Neemo's guidelines it should get you a long way, but in the end what happens happens and all you can do is enjoy the ride and do your best.

Trying new stuff is one thing, it's fine. But it's not what I'm looking for from GNR, I don't want GNR to be anything else than what they were back in the 80's and early 90's. If I want a modern sounding band, I'll listen to new bands, you know? Axl delivered a mediocre, outdated sounding record that doesn't sound like anything I would listen to for the most part. Slash delivered a record that's a mediocre version of something that I would actually love. I prefer CB for that reason.
So if trying something new yields results like that, then be a man, scratch what you've done and go back to the drawing board.

And might I also propose that, although wildly unoriginal, IFOCS is artistically miles and miles beyond CD in my humble opinion.

Uhm, paying for chat rooms? Anyone can get a channel on almost any popular IRC network and it has the added advantage of not needing some lame-ass java or flash component to run. I would definitely not pay for something like that since it stands for everything that I feel is wrong with the internet today . Hell, get something on Quakenet or efnet, those places have multiple channels with several hundreds of users each at any given time and give away free bots to protect your channels...

DAW, short for Digital Audio Workstation. It's basically a computer version of your 4-track recorder, only with (nearly) unlimited tracks and some additional sweet possibilities like editing the wave files directly, plugin support, etc... rather complex to get started with if you're not that technically inclined. Actually, Audacity is (next to a good wave editor) a free DAW, albeit not a very good one. Pro Tools and Cubase would be the prime examples.

A Piezo pick-up is the type of pick-up used in an acoustic guitar. It's good enough for live performances, but it sucks compared to the actual live sound the gitaar makes. Much better to capture that with a mic. Most recording guys will tell you to record it with both the piezo and the mic and blend the two together, but if you can sit reasonably still during your performance just the mic will do fine .

Hey, how did your record this? I think the song has potential, though I do feel it lacks a more catchy chorus to really catch me by the balls. I like the moody, dark atmosphere it has. Some parts of the melody are pretty cool, in a Nirvana-esque sort of way, but the song structure doesn't strike me as particularly interesting yet.

But, and forgive me if I'm expecting too much but I'm just really into this whole recording thing, I reckon there's a couple of very easy, straight forward ways you can improve on this recording.

First of all, are you recording everything at once? If so, then don't. It'll free you up to make the guitar part slightly more interesting, even a slight change in your strumming pattern once i a while would liven it up a little. Use a nice and free DAW program to do some real multitracking (if you're on Mac or Linux you can use ardour http://www.ardour.org , or if your on Windows or Mac, you can use Reaper or EnergyXT (use google, too lazy to find the links for ya ) ).

Don't record an accoustic guitar through the piezo pick-up, like it sound's like you've done now - the guitar sounds awful . The vocal mic you're using sounds like a smooth and mellow dynamic mic so I reckon it'll sound sweet if you record the guitar using the mic instead of the pup. Just point the thing towards the twelfth fret (a bit more to the left for a harsher sound, more towards the right for a deeper, heavier sound) at a distance of about 8 to 12 inches.

I like your voice, but it takes a few bars before you sound "warmed up" and confident enough.

Cheers!