The Imitation Game

Free audio download on SoundCloud.

The Imitation Game is a 2014 British historical drama based on the 1983 biography, Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Turing, who decrypted Nazi intelligence messages for the British government during World War II.

This is an incredible WW2 drama -- actually, one of the best historical WW2 films ever made. There's some compelling subplots too:

˜ Having broken the Nazi Enigma code, British intelligence had to judiciously use the data -- so as not alert the Nazis that their code had been broken. Basically, they had slowly bend the arc of the war in their favor. This meant the unenviable task of picking winners and losers -- often putting Allied forces in harm's way.

˜ Alan Turing -- a hero, whose genius likely saved an incalculable amount of lives -- was a victim of mid-century norms and social law. He was a closeted homosexual, and was charged in 1952 with "acts of gross indecency". Turning was forced to undergo chemical castration as an alternative to prison. He later committed suicide in 1954.

The Imitation Game's music and central theme, by composer Alexandre Desplat, are now considered a modern classic. At the time of this writing, this theme has 52 million plays on Spotify alone. Incredibly high for a film music composition.

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Gear used

For this piece, I used my Cordoba GK Studio Guitar. I record with a Zoom Q8 camera -- designed for HD audio (not video as you can tell). My newest mic is Zoom's X/Y large diaphragm configuration. For Imitation Game, the X/Y is set to a 90 degree angle for a narrower audio image.

You can find a current list of my gear here.

My music

You can find my personal music on Spotify, Apple, and all sreaming services:

Evan on Spotify

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The Intellimusica Spotify Playlist: Ethereal and Cinematic Music
(This playlist is curated and updated by me. It’s music that I’ve played and intend to play on Intellimusica. It flows beautifully — and additionally works as music for focus, meditation, and self-reflection.)

How to play The Imitation Game | fingerstyle guitar

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I originally posted this piece back 2014. I've update the performance and the guitar tab -- which is beautifully written across 4 pages, and played straight through. While I recommend this for intermediate guitar players, elements of The Imitation Game are really easy to play, and I think novice players can give it a shot too.

The entire thing is under 2 minutes, so I've added it to my 2 Minute Classical Guitar Archive. Enjoy, the guitar tab is available below: