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Lesson Caged System

The document introduces the CAGED guitar theory system, which maps the fretboard using five common open chord shapes (C, A, G, E, D). It explains that the CAGED system helps simplify the fretboard by revealing the relationships between open chord shapes and notes/intervals. Each open chord form can be moved up and down the fretboard, interconnecting all the chord shapes and mapping out how to play chords across the entire fretboard using a consistent pattern.

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Endrédi Ádám
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160 views

Lesson Caged System

The document introduces the CAGED guitar theory system, which maps the fretboard using five common open chord shapes (C, A, G, E, D). It explains that the CAGED system helps simplify the fretboard by revealing the relationships between open chord shapes and notes/intervals. Each open chord form can be moved up and down the fretboard, interconnecting all the chord shapes and mapping out how to play chords across the entire fretboard using a consistent pattern.

Uploaded by

Endrédi Ádám
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CAGED Guitar Theory System

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a guitar system to easily allow you to visualize and
connect the guitar fretboard up and down the neck? The CAGED system does just
that. It lays out the guitar fretboard in a logical manner, allowing you to easily
recognize chords shapes and scale patterns all over the fretboard.

Simplifying the Fretboard with the CAGED System

The guitar is a grid of notes. It’s not laid out in a linear fashion like a piano. This
makes the guitar a bit challenging in terms of learning the note structure, intervals,
and relationships between the notes.

So we need something to help us visualize the fretboard in a way that’s simple and
easy-to-use.

This is where the CAGED system comes in.

How the CAGED System Works

The CAGED system works by using common open chord shapes to map out the
guitar neck into five distinct sections. It helps simplify the fretboard by revealing
the relationship between common open chord shapes and note/interval
arrangement on the guitar.

Once you see this relationship, the guitar is no longer a massive grid of notes that’s
hard to navigate. Instead, you can begin to visualize the fretboard as a group of
interconnected shapes and patterns.

Let’s take a look at the chords that make up the CAGED system.

www.appliedguitartheory.com
Chords of the CAGED System

The CAGED guitar theory system is built on five basic open chord shapes:

• C chord
• A chord
• G chord
• E chord
• D chord

Hence the name, CAGED.

Each open chord form is moveable, which means it can be played in other locations
up and down the fretboard. In most cases, this is done by barring the notes that fall
on the same fret.

Some of the barre chord shapes will look familiar, particularly the E form and A
form.

But let’s first take a look at each shape in its open form, then we’ll look at how to
move the shape up and down the fretboard.

CAGED Open Chord Shapes

The open chord shapes below are the building blocks for the CAGED system.
The entire system is based on these shapes, for these shapes are moveable up and
down the neck.

Let’s take a look at how this can be done to form other chords.

C Form

If you take the open C chord and move it up


2 frets, you get a C-form D chord. With the C
form no longer in an open position, you need
to barre across strings 1, 2, and 3.
A Form

By moving the open A chord shape up to the


2rd fret you form a B chord.

G Form

By moving the G chord shape up to the 6th


fret you get a G-form B♭ chord. Note that
fingering the root note on the 1st string may
be a bit difficult. It’s common to leave this
note out.

E Form

By moving the E chord shape up to the 2nd


fret you form an F# barre chord.

D Form

By moving the open D chord shape up three


frets you get a D-form F chord.
Connecting the CAGED Shapes

Taking this concept of moveable chord shapes and applying it to a single chord is
where the usefulness of the CAGED system is fully realized. This is what maps out
the fretboard in a logical way because any given chord can be played all over the
fretboard using the CAGED chord forms. Further, each chord shape connects to the
previous following a set pattern, CAGED:

• C form connects to A form


• A form connects to G form
• G form connects to E form
• E form connects to D form
• D form connects to C form and the pattern repeats

Let’s follow the C chord up the fretboard to see how it comes together.

In this first diagram, we have the C chord in its natural open C form.

It’s very important to learn the root note positions for each scale shape. The root
note will act as an anchor point for you to become familiar with each scale position
and be able to quickly identify and locate any scale position on the neck.

Below each scale diagram is the guitar tab for playing that position.

The root note on the 5th string is also the root note for the A form chord, so we can
see below how the C form chord connects to the A form. Here we have an A form C
chord.
The 5th, root, and major 3rd on the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd strings respectively form the
upper part of the G form chord, connecting the A form C chord with the G form C
chord.

The root on the 6th string of the G form chord is shared with the E form CAGED
shaped, connecting the G and E forms. Below we have the familiar E form C barre
chord with the root on the 8th fret.

Taking the root on the 4th string of the E form, we can connect the E form chord to
the D form chord.
The D form then connects back to the C form chord via the 5th, root, and major 3rd
on the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st strings respectively.

In these diagrams you can see how the CAGED chord forms are interconnected
across the entire fretboard. Again, these chord forms apply to any root note. The
following diagram outlines the D major chord across the fretboard using the
CAGED shapes.
Root Notes of the CAGED Chord Shapes

Once you have a handle on the CAGED chord shapes, it’s very important to learn
the root notes for each position. The root note acts as an anchor point for you to
quickly find the chord shapes across the neck.

CAGED System Scales & Arpeggios

The CAGED system doesn’t just apply to chord shapes on the guitar fretboard, but
also major scale and arpeggio patterns. This makes sense given that chords are
built from scales. The diagram below outlines the major arpeggio and scale pattern
for each of the CAGED chord shapes.
CHORD ARPEGGIO PENTATONIC MAJOR SCALE

C Shape C Shape Position 3 Position 3

A Shape A Shape Position 4 Position 4

G Shape G Shape Position 5 Position 5

E Shape E Shape Position 1 Position 1

D Shape D Shape Position 2 Position 2

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