RIP Guitar Hero

This weekend I may gather my friends to Mullin Towers and stage a tribute concert to a game which, over the years, has brought me great joy, great despair - and totally knackered wrists.
We've had an odd relationship Guitar Hero and I, which began back in 2007 when Mr M talked my brother-in-law Dave into parting with GH2 and his 'guitar' for the weekend so we could give it a whirl.
Initially | was dismissive - why would I want to look like an idiot bashing away at a toy guitar, even if it was in the privacy of my own home?
But then Mr M fired up the XBOX, the opening chords of the mighty Crue's Shout at the Devil rang out and my head was turned.
Mr M gallantly took to the living room floor and bashed out an impressive 70%, unlocking further songs like Wolfmother's Woman, Nirvana's Heart-Shaped box and Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Name Of.
My first foray into the GH world however, was less successful. In fact you could say I stank at it.
With only three 'chords' to get to grips with, I managed to get booed off stage just a minute and a half into Kansas's Carry on my Wayward Son.
Undeterred I turned my attentions to Alice in Chain's Rooster and Warrant's Cherry Pie - to a similar reception.
Things were compounded when my sister Lynsey and Dave popped round and showed us a YouTube clip of an eight-year-old playing Psychobilly Freakout on expert with his back to the TV.
I had been beaten by a game even a child could master.
Now I'm fairly competitive. I don't like to be outdone, and certainly not by a mere computer game. So the next morning saw me up at the crack of dawn determined to master Guitar Hero or die trying.
I sat through the tutorials, learnt to string chords together, managed to throw in a few blue and orange notes, but totally failed to grasp the knack of 'hammer ons' and 'pull offs'. By the end of my marathon session I could competently play most of the songs on easy - and Mr M was ready to strangle me.
The following weekend Lynsey and Dave threw a GH party, and I was ready to show off my skills.
Lynsey seemed to have a natural affinity for the game, and 100%ed Foo Fighters' Monkey Wrench. Mr M and Dave, who for some reason insist they can only play the game standing, guitars slung over their shoulders and feet tapping, put in a similarly stellar dual performance on The Police's Message in a Bottle.
Then it was my turn. Choosing a relatively slow song, Van Halen's (The Kinks surely?) You Really Got Me, I scored a blistering 96%.
Buoyed on by my success I flew through Sabbath's War Pigs and, in a moment of ill advised cockiness, ramped the difficulty up to medium for Megadeath's Hanger 18.
I spectacularly crashed and burned. I've not seen a computer character look so sorry for me since God of War 2 patronisingly asked if I wanted to lower the difficulty after being splattered for the 5th time by the Kraken.
Resisting the urge to throw a full blown rock n roll hissy fit, I handed the controller back to Mr M, sat down and sulked.
This session sums up the love/hate relationship I have with Guitar Hero. Some times when our friends are around, it's great fun to get GH on and have a 'jamming session'. It's a brilliant party game. I still have the image in my head of my best friend's boyfriend drunkenly trying to play the base line of Hotel California, while holding the microphone under his chin to sing along.
But after that initial flurry of learning, of feeling like I was flogging a dead horse, I wouldn't dream of playing it on my own.
Having said that, I do hope they decide to continue releasing downloadable content for the game. There are a few songs I'd love to have a go at - I begrudgingly have to admit that playing air guitar just isn't the same.

See an eight-year-old play Psychobilly Freakout on expert