Leslie Noyes of Mahomet is a grandmother who recently found out she loves to rock.

At age 51 and with four grandchildren, Noyes understands she isn't the norm of players to thrash on the guitar controller of the video game Guitar Hero, but she's not letting that stop her - nor being diagnosed with cancer.

More than two months ago, Noyes was diagnosed with the early stages of breast cancer and began radiation therapy. Her husband bought her a PlayStation 2 and the sequel to the popular rock guitar simulation video game Guitar Hero after seeing her delight when watching her nieces play the game.

"It's been a wonderful way to take my mind off of the radiation," she said via e-mail. "Simply put, it's hard to think about cancer when you're busy trying to make your fingers hit the right color fret at exactly the right time."

With music that rocks and guitar legends that inspire, the Guitar Hero series has developed massive popularity in the gaming world, as players of all ages have found themselves in tune with the simulator game.

Up to its fourth game from its first release in 2005, the series (Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the '80s and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock) has sprouted tournaments locally and nationally, allowed people to challenge some of the greatest guitar players of all time and captivated listeners with music from decades ago.

"I'm starting to really get into the music," said 14-year-old Trace Anderson of Mount Zion, who described the music of the game as "music before my time."

The Guitar Hero series has music from such rock bands as Guns N' Roses, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Nirvana. Game players look to keep up with colored notes that glide down the television screen, testing a person's concentration of hitting the correct colored fret on a guitar controller.

Sliderz owner David Birch said the Decatur bar recently finished a double-elimination Guitar Hero tournament for adults. With the success of two previous Guitar Hero tournaments at the bar, Birch decided to present a third.

The bar also put on an all-ages tournament this summer, with ages from 8 to 30. Birch said he is looking into putting on more Guitar Hero tournaments, possibly in the spring.

"It's just a challenge," he said of why people are drawn to the game. "It takes a lot of practice to get good. It seems like (Guitar Hero makers) can keep it going and let the fans decide when to stop."

"I think it's an awesome series of games," 29-year-old Tom Ness of Decatur said in an e-mail. Ness became a fan before sparking the interest of his 10-year-old son.

"Most of the songs in the game are older classics that came out before I was born and newer songs that have (come) out in the past few years," he said. His son enjoys playing the Lynyrd Skynyrd tune "Free Bird."

"It's great that he is introduced to great songs without me pushing them onto him from CDs," Ness said.

Mary Howell of Decatur figured she wouldn't have to buy her stepson Guitar Hero after promising to make the game a reward for the 13-year-old if he could improve his grades in English class.

"I really didn't think I had to get one," she said with a laugh.

Howell's stepson R.J. conquered his grades and now has conquered the expert level of the game, saying getting good grades was worth having the game in his possession.

R.J. played the game with friends when the series began. "I got hooked," he said. When Guitar Hero III was released, R.J. went to Wal-Mart at midnight to purchase the game and ended up beating it in six hours.

"(It has) cool songs," he said. "It's a great party game to get together with friends."

"He's now talking about getting a guitar and taking lessons," Howell said, adding that she is happy to support his musical endeavors.

Noyes said she is expecting to get Guitar Hero III for Christmas, but until then Guitar Hero II is keeping her hands and mind busy to beat the expert level.

"I've progressed pretty well for an old chick," Noyes said, "and I'm about halfway through the songs on the 'hard' level of play.

"In addition, I've finished my radiation therapy with very few side effects. Who knows, maybe there's a connection there somewhere."

Alicia Spates can be reached at aspates@herald-review.com or 421-6986.