The Imitation Game

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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How to play The Imitation Game | fingerstyle guitar

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:

In accordance with the guitar tab, my order of play looks like this:

Intro (the beginning trill is 8x. The following section is 2x.)

Verse, Bridge

Verse, Outro 2x

**The Imitation Game | fingerstyle guitar

This piece is played in standard tuning with a capo on the 1st fret. You can play it without a capo, or in any capo position you like.