Guitar Hero

Admit it. You wanted to buy a Slash top hat the second you blew through the Guitar Hero® version of "Sweet Child o' Mine," for the same reason you craved a cape after reading your first comic book… because every superhero – even a six-string one – needs the proper costume. Or, in the case of our game-revisiting playlist, the proper soundtrack, including the four simple but satisfying notes that pepper "Smoke on the Water," the lighter-lifting solos of "Free Bird," the hotheaded hooks of "Heart Shaped Box," and the anthemic power pop of "Surrender" (minus the five-neck guitar, sadly). In case you actually bought that whole GNR getup, our Next Steps list has more of Slash's guitar heroics positioned alongside Maiden, Motörhead, Sum 41 and more.

"Bark at the Moon"? How about howling at your TV screen after acing Jake E. Lee's solo at the two-minute mark? Our Next Steps are full of similar Gamers Behaving Badly moments, including the devil horn-flashing "The Number of the Beast," the "see ya' teacher!" stomp of "School's Out," the kick-jump start of "Welcome to the Jungle," the buttons-to-the-floor, apartment wall-smacking lead in "Ace of Spades," and the (literal) glass-breaking raw power of "Search and Destroy." Don't feel like you've raised enough hell yet? Our Deep Cuts will have the neighbours knocking soon enough.

Here's where things get downright debilitating, much like the final spotlight-baked stages of Guitar Hero®. Starting with "Synchronicity II," our Deep Cuts jump from hockey arenas to football stadiums without so much as a warning – teaching you a slew of crucial guitar techniques along the way, including the string-scratching of Tom Morello ("Bulls on Parade"), the bold brush strokes of John Frusciante ("Suck My Kiss"), the Gibson-flashing blues-rock licks of Billy Gibbons ("Sharp Dressed Man"), and the blinding, fingertip-peeling thrash-metal skills of Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King ("Raining Blood").

Now that you've got the blisters and bandages to prove just how devoted you are to conquering the many stages of Guitar Hero®, there's one thing you still need to do: celebrate your neck-squeezing, scale-climbing prowess by revisiting every riff you just mastered and preparing for your next "performance." That means studying everything from "Sweet Child o' Mine" to "Shout at the Devil," from "I Wanna Be Sedated" to "Symphony of Destruction" . . . and getting your head around just why the pros get paid the big bucks. No, now isn't the time to hang up that Slash hat and weathered leather jacket, though. You're just getting started.