That day, I decided I wanted to be a guitar player, the best guitar player on the face of the earth.

I practiced for about 2 months with a cheap guitar, grew my nails and my hair and started hanging out with musicians. Didn’t help much. I’m officially one of the worst guitar players ever.

A month ago, I saw a beautiful guitar at the pawn shop, and  bought it on the spur of the moment – I don’t regret it. Maybe I’m not gonna be the next Jimi Hendrix or Captain Beefheart , but I love playing and that’s all that matters.

If you also want to learn how to play the guitar, take a look at LickLibrary studio on 5min, where you can find professional step-by-step guitar lessons,like this one:

Who knows? you might be the next Hendrix.

Let’s travel back to the time when Celts ruled what is now the  United Kingdom. Back in those exciting and frightful days, October 31st was believed to be the day that the dividing line between earth and the other realm became blurred, so people would dress up as demons and ghosts in order to protect themselves from other-worldly creatures who would be walking amongst them on this special day, presumably wanting to take them back to their demon world. These days, it is less about demon snatching and more about who looks the hottest when dancing to Thriller. And what better way to look ace, than with a spankin’ new tattoo sleeve?

If effort is simply not your thing, don’t worry – there are simpler ideas, too. Just check out the plethora of awesome ideas from HGTV!

If you’re extremely lazy, you can always cut up an old bed sheet, stick it atop your head and just go Ooooo. But come on, are you really going to be that lame!? This is the only day of the year when dressing up like a freak is not only socially acceptable, but even desirable – and don’t we all ultimately strive for social acceptability?

However, there are times when I’m either feeling lenient and tolerant enough towards the musical tastes of friends and colleagues, or end up feeling optimistically curious to a degree that pushes me outside of my iTunes stash, and into the loving arms of other people’s musical bounties, courtesy of iTunes’ sharing capabilities.

This time, with the recent release of iTunes 8.1, Apple have revved things up by introducing iTunes DJ, the older and hotter sister of its predecessor, Party Shuffle. The iTunes DJ feature allows your tech-forward pals toting an iPhone or the iPod Touch (so long as you grant them entry to your Wi-Fi network) to request and vote for songs to be added to the iTunes DJ playlist (which greatly resembles the party shuffle playlist you’re already familiar with). The more votes a song racks up, the higher it will climb in the coolness hierarchy within your iTunes playlist, and the sooner it will play.

While a tad inconvenient for ultra-paranoid types or really anyone with an encrypted wi-fi network, the only real requirement is that your pals all sport the Remote iPhone app, which can be downloaded free of charge from the iTunes Store.

To set up iTunes DJ and get the party started, you first need to open iTunes on your Mac and click on the Settings button underneath the iTunes DJ playlist. In the settings window that opens, check the box to allow guests to request songs, and even type in a welcome message warning them not to push it with The Jonas Brothers tracks. You can also check the little box to enable voting, and then sit back to watch (and hear/possible groove to) democracy in motion.

The highlight of this feature for musical snobs and chronic playlist patrollers and no doubt a huge draw for control freaks is the fact that while the owner of the iTunes-paired iPhone will blossom into a musical tyrant with a ability to pause, skip and play the hell out of a given playlist, guests (those less fortunate ones whose iPhones are only satellites revolving around the Party Master, but not paired to the host) will be able to rock the vote, but not the actual order or behavior of the playlist.

That said, guests can still put their music where their mouth is, and vote for songs, request new songs, which will be added to the bottom of the playlist. You, the power-hungry Party Master, are a different class altogether – you can balance out all this democracy-shmemocracy by repeatedly casting multiple votes for the song of your choice (just right-click on the tune of your choice and let your voice be heard!), unlike your guests who will only be able to vote once for a given tune.

Of course, all of this is just fantasy unless you’re equipped with friends who are total Apple fanboys, because we all know that no matter how pumping, it ain’t no party if the guest list includes only you and your iPhone. On the other hand, do you really want to hang out with folks who are still using Zune?!

However, in recent months I have been indulging in this dark and guilty pleasure, head-banging shamelessly to Slayer as I have not done since high school. While one can argue as to the depth and/or moral context of most of the more traditional common themes found in popular metal lyrics, no one can quite argue with such an onslaught of sound. The music still blows my ‘effin mind, true – but I reckon that due to my progressing age, that air of defiance against authority is gone, along with some questionable wardrobe choices. Nonetheless, when browsing the Hype Machine for new tunes to feed the Pod, I was delighted to find this adorable little tale of elementary school rebellion inspired by Twisted Sister. Rock on, you little devils!

Ok, budding guitarists – wanna cross over to the dark side with some tasty metal tunes? First, get into gear and master that perfect metal tone with this comprehensive video tutorial from LickLibrary. The next step is to get familiar with the awesome guitar goods and gear that make metal into the musical beast that it is:

1. Practice Metal Riffs and Riffing Techniques:
In this guitar video tutorial, LickLibrary contributor Andy James demonstrates how to practice some metal riffing techniques.

2. Learn How to Use Palm Muting Techniques:

In this beginner-level tutorial from iVideosongs, instructor Danny Grady demonstrates how to perfect right-hand palm muting on simple chords and right hand patterns.

3. Nail Some Killer Rock and Metal Runs:

Learn how to play killer rock and metal runs on guitar with this video tutorial from LickLibrary.

4. Go Neo-Classical with Yngwie Malmsteen

Sure, it may have taken you a while to pronounce his name, but Yngwie is a bona-fide guitar god. Sit back, guitar in hand, and learn some neo-classical rock licks inspired by Yngwie Malmsteen’s unmistakable sound.

5. Master Melodic Rock Guitar Licks and Shred Away:

Somewhere back in 11th grade, one of my dearest friends decided to lock himself in his room armed with his two Gibsons, some canned goods, and a Steve Vai guitar boot camp DVD, only to emerge three days later, sleep-deprived but totally driven. Thanks to 5min, you can now get your own dose of Vai, and learn how to play melodic rock guitar licks.

1) Shay’s Pick: Something – The Beatles

Shay’s choice is the classic and premium , a song  of which Frank Sinatra once said: “I believe George Harrison’s hauntingly beautiful song is one of the greatest love songs ever written, and it never even says I Love You.”

2) Na’ama’s Pick: Sunday – Sonic Youth

Beautifully disturbing video aside (proving that child actors never grow up quite right and that Thurston Moore has the best hair in the music world), this has always been my favorite love song. In a genre full of clichés, this song stands out in its simplicity.  You know it’s true love when you find someone that makes you feel like Sunday never ends, or screams “aaaassssss yooooou wishhhhhhhh” while rolling down a mountain…but that one’s for a different V-Day list.

3) Roxana’s Pick: Where Do I Begin – Andy Williams

Many love songs make me wanna cry, dance, or sing like neighbors don’t exist. But only one makes me think that “love means never having to say you’re sorry”.

4) Ealeal’s Pick: Crazy – Patsy Cline

When he wasn’t busy hanging out with Kris Kristofferson, golfing or lighting up, Willie Nelson managed to write what would turn out to be possibly one of the best love ballads ever – Crazy. Catapulted to fame and golden country legacy by a mesmerizing recording by Patsy Cline released in 1961, Crazy is the literal love song equivalent of a kick to the groin – because honestly, who hasn’t been driven this far into a heart-wrenching stretch of temporary insanity, laced with pints of Ben & Jerry’s and self pity? *sniff*

5) Moshe’s Pick – My Heart Will Go On – Celine Dion

I know it’s cheesy, but on my second not-so-official date with a girl named Alma we rented Titanic and I wept like a baby.
Alma and I are celebrating our second anniversary, and I love her more than anything in this world. I can’t even imagine living without her. Alma , will you marry me?

So I wasn’t surprised to know that this seems to be a common trend in the rock business, and that some rockers are multitalented artists that enjoy talking about music…in the kitchen.

For us who love cooking and headbanging  at the same time, Cooking with the Band is the place to be (or the show to see). Sam Mason—“part rocker, part chef”, brings indie NY based bands to the kitchen, discussing about their music and making some delicious food at the same time.

Go ahead, pump up the volume and turn on the oven: it’s rock-cooking time!

Luckily for us, 5min is rocking steady with thousands of great guitar tutorials, many of them geared at newbies like ourselves. Alongside leading names in guitar and musical instruction such as iVideosongs, Spytunes, Lick Library, Live To Jam and DolphinStreet, there is also a long list of industrious guitarists who have been busy uploading their excellent guitar tutorial videos to the 5min platform, offering a rich variety of levels, styles and teaching methods for every aspiring guitarist.

But let’s aside our fantasies of rockstardom aside for a moment – after all, you gotta learn how to crawl before you can run, and before we can dream of hollering “THANK YOU MILWAUKEE!” at a crowd of thousands or dominating the stage at Madison Square Garden, we need to at least master a few basic chords.

Obviously, there’s still a long, long road ahead of us before anyone in the office can tear it up like Zakk Wylde, but at least now we have something to aspire to:

So you wanna be a guitar hero? The guitar is a wonderful instrument and can open up whole new worlds, but picking up a guitar and getting started can be intimidating. Here are some 5min guitar pointers for those of you who want to rock:

- Tune your guitar. When picking up a guitar with the intent of learning how to play, the ideal start is a well-tuned guitar. Don’t know how to tune a guitar? Fear not – learn how to easily tune your guitar here!

- Learn how to read guitar tabs. Guitar tablatures, or tabs, are a system of musical notations used when playing guitar. In tabs, each line corresponds to a string on the guitar, and each number displayed tells you which fret you should be holding down when plucking a given string string.

- Learn and practice your chords. While its true that the Ramones did just fine with only three chords, you may want to beef up on your chord knowledge in order to enable you to play a variety of musical styles and tunes. After all, Freebird can get a little dry after a while…

We will continue with our rigorous guitar training, and expect you all to do the same. In the meantime… Rock loud, rock proud, and rock on!

So, yeah, I was far away from becoming Slash, no matter how often I wore Guns N’ Roses t-shirts.

Although my teacher is an excellent musician,  I would have learned more if I had saved the personal talk for my hairdresser, and listened to LickLibrary’s tutorials on how to play like Angus Young .

To become a good guitar player, all you need to do is practice. It’s the only way to play that riff with a real guitar instead of just waving chords in the air like Bill & Ted.

The truth is, I later discovered that it wasn’t only my teacher’s talk that stopped me from becoming a guitar expert. I simply had way more potential as a drummer…

It’s not that I particularly wanted to learn guitar, either. It just upset me a great deal to be surrounded by individuals who could – with varying degrees of success – pick up a Les Paul Custom and rock out, while I could not. While Guitar Hero led me to a revival of glam-rock and some 80’s tracks that could only be defined as guilty pleasures, it also left me right back at square one – standing there with my toy guitar, fingers chafed and injured from pummeling my rock into plastic buttons, staring up at yet another “No Freebird!!!” sign.

Growing up I’d always had a deep and sincere respect for the power of rock, but I was too busy trying to convince my parents that drums would be a totally welcome addition to our household to ever even think of learning to play guitar. Since we were 4 siblings under the same roof, I was holding fast to the dream that we could have an in-house rock outfit, with a little Partridge Family twist thrown in. Unfortunately for me, our parents did not think there was enough sound insulation technology in the world to protect them from such a scenario, and a veto was called.

Thanks to the advent of the Internet and sites like this one, the rock-starved masses can still get their groove on, while actually learning the foundations as they go. iVideosongs offer exceptionally well-produced videos that will have you rocking in no time – iVideosongs showcase a great tool for aspiring musicians everywhere, with which you can learn how to play your favorite jams completely and accurately, whether taught by the original artists who wrote and performed them, or by expert guitar instructors. Each iVideosongs title is broken into segments, so you learn the intro, verse, chorus, bridge and outro. In addition, each includes an accurate performance, so you can check your progress against the complete track. Needless to point out, all the techniques, tips, tricks and professional guitar lingo are much more fun to learn if you’re belting out your fave songs while learning from the pros.

Looking for an extra treat? Be sure to catch iVideosong’s interview segments, where you can hear what was really the driving force which inspired the song you’re learning.

But, just as you must learn how to crawl before you can run, you must also learn to tune before you strum:

Please note that both the DJ and the Wrestler are animal lovers.

One, is Jonathan AKA DJ Ellaskins , a massive DJ from England, with over 20 years of experience in setting up raves, working the club scene and slicing up the dance floor with all types of equipment. In the two years since he has opened an account on Youtube, he has amassed a massive following. Gathering over 12,000 subscribers, half a million channel views and a library of over 1,200 videos all about his life on the road as a DJ, a nearly daily updated vlog and hundreds of tutorials in the art he has mastered.

The other is a young strapping lad, Richard Whirley, born and trained in Covington, Georgia. He has dedicated his life to the study of a variety of martial arts. Originally under the tutelage of Gary Brown and George Allen, he rose to high ranks receiving a 2nd Degree Brown Belt. The videos hosted on his 5min Studio are “dedicated solely to developing your game in Submission Grappling and Mixed Martial Arts competition”. He awfully likes the competitive sport of grappling, and hosts a treasure chest of combative moves like: The Turtle Leg Escape, the Turtle Roll, and the fearsome Turtle Twister.

So Richard and Jonathan, both champions of their respective fields, both dedicated competitors of an underground sport, have set up camp in the 5min corner of the webiverse. They are serving up hundreds of videos in each studio, spreading their knowledge to the world, all for you to learn from.

So maybe, in an alternate universe both would be close friends. Jonathan and Richard might have studied in the same school. Both united by their love for animals, fighting bullies who would attack small children on the playground.

But who knows?