Air Guitar Classics

Feel you were born to be a rock god, but don't quite have the skills? Here we give you the tools you need to at least look the part. Acting out the dark and crunchy progression from Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" is really just one small step away from actually playing it, and cracking out those power chords with Jimmy Barnes on "Good Times" feels truly fantastic. Now that your fingers are nice and loose, riff over to our Next Steps.

There's definitely something in the air . . . and it's an imaginary guitar that sounds flippin' incredible. Boston's master shredder, Tom Scholz, may have taught himself to play before launching the record-breaking "More Than a Feeling," but with the air approach you can skip that step and still let loose on his landmark solo. And why not show your mirror how Slash should have cut his moves on "Welcome to the Jungle." Nice . . . and there's more in our Deep Cuts.

Did you know that Brian May (and his dad) built his own Red Special guitar, using, among other things, knitting needles and motorbike springs, and that May gets his one-of-a-kind sound, in part, by playing with a sixpence instead of a pick? Take that knowledge into "Driven by You" (not that you need it to shred a non-existent axe). From Rose Tattoo to Hole via the likes of Megadeth, you'll find that a whole lot of nothing sounds mighty good right here.

It is a proud tradition, one carried out in bedrooms, parking lots and pool halls all across our fair country and beyond. We're speaking, of course, of air guitar, that precision art of flying fingers, flailing arms, and pursing lips that transform an ordinary citizen into a guitar hero of great rock prowess. It's true, however, that too often the prime air-guitar moment is fleeting — a quick blitz from the radio or the jukebox and it's gone, taking your rock immortality with it. We here at iTunes want to make your glory last, with entire playlists of tunes by which to spotlight your expertise. Go forth, you axe fantasists, and rock.