Alright, I'll take a shot at it.
So, you own SONAR? Do you also own an audio interface? This can be anything from a built-in sound card to a separate box hooked up via firewire, USB, or such. Most folk who use a DAW also use an audio interface because it's basically the "engine" inside the race car. It allows more inputs and outputs, WAY better performance than what a computer's built-in sound can do.
When you say acoustic guitar, I'm going to assume that it does not have it's own pickups or an internal bridge mic installed. So we're just talking guitar. So, the simple answer is you'll need a microphone. A mic has to get plugged into something (that's where the audio interface comes in). Now how this happens depends on the mic, the interface, and the computer. I myself have a mic plugged into my Roland OctaCapture via an XLR cable, and the Roland unit connects to the computer via USB.
So, lets start with your hardware setup. What kind of computer is it, what other gear do you have?