Fast Eddie

I am new here and am simply recording myself on guitar in my 'music room'. I would like to know how to amplify the volume before recording a track. Presently if I record a track the time series created is basically a straight line. I have to select a portion, then either 'amplify' or 'normalize' to hear anything on playback. So I would like to amplify before recording. Can't figure out how. Thanks.