Full Tilt

Hey, everybody. My name's Tristan, I'm an 18 year old from the middle-of-nowhere, Iowa looking to begin making some basic music and hopefully working my way into the more complex stuff as I continue to learn.

Unfortunately, I don't play a single instrument. I would like to learn something like the guitar so I could begin recording myself; which may be yet to happen.

Anyway, I was wondering if there was a way to produce music with something like a keyboard (a buddy of mine recommended a Midi keyboard?) and a program to 'play' and record the instruments in.

I'm relatively new to the scene, so excuse me if this is way too broad of a question. If I need to specify at all, please let me know and I'll do my best to further explain.

Thanks everybody.