Hi, I've never recorded guitar before, and I would like to know some basic info about recording.

I would like to in the future make little songs on computer just to teach myself and gauge progress and have something to show people. I've never done this before. What would I need to be able to record guitar tracks, create realitic sounding drum beats and bass/synth sounds on computer? What's the easiest equipment and software for this purpose? I have Cubase LE, but I don't know how to use it/if it can do what I want. Basically, what I want is a reasonably priced way of laying down guitar tracks, and some software with which I can edit these and add other instruments.