CAGED System - a Guide for Guitarists

By knowing and understanding the CAGED system this will help you to use the full fretboard and to find your way around the fretboard more easily.

The CAGED system is based on the shapes of 5 open chords C, A, G, E, D Key (spelling CAGED). The first thing you will need to learn are these 5 chords: 1 Finger number & C A G E D placement on string x x x x Do not play this string 1 1 x 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 2 3 3 Open string - play string with no fingers 1 1 1 Place finger flat across (barre) the strings

When you know these 5 chords you need to remember where the root of the chord is (the first note). If you can remember where the root, third and fifth are that is even better, but the root is the one you need to focus on. Here are the chords with the root, third and fifths marked for you: C A G E D x x x x 1 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 2 3 3 Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root 3 Root 3 3 5 5 3 Root 5 Root X X Root X 3 5 3 5 5 3 X 5 rd rd rd th th rd th rd th rd th th rd th

Once you have these chords and the ‘root’ notes committed to memory then we need to turn these open chord shapes into a closed position so that there are no open strings being played. These new closed positions are what makes the shapes fully moveable around the fretboard. You will notice that to make these positions closed, on 4 out of the 5 chords we are using barre chords. Here are the new closed position shapes. It is important to mention that these are no longer the original chords as they have moved on the fretboard, these are now simply shapes which we will use to create new chords:

C shape A shape G shape E shape D shape x x x x 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4 3 4 4 Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root

MUSIC www.dsmusic.com Page 1 © Copyright 2014 DS Music Once you have learnt these new shapes then you can play any major chord on the fretboard, just by moving one of these shapes and placing the root note position on to the new root note of the chord you wish to play.

Lets try a C shape: C# Chord For example, let’s look at C. Play C (using C shape) the original chord: x x Now, by adding the barre and the 1 1 1 C shape we have moved the root 2 2 note to a C#/Db, so this is what 3 we would call a C# chord 3 (C shape). 4 Root Root Root Root 3 5 X 3 rd th rd

D Chord Eb Chord (using C shape) (using C shape) Now try moving that whole position up one fret to x x create a D chord (C shape) and then up another fret to play a Eb chord (C shape). 1 1 2 1 1 3 2 4 3 Root Root 4 Root Root

Lets try an A shape: Bb Chord So let’s try this with a different A (using A shape) chord shape. Let’s take the x x Now, by adding the barre and original A chord: 1 1 the A shape we have moved the 1 2 3 root note to an A#/Bb, so this is what we would call a Bb chord (A 2 3 4 shape). Root Root Root 3 5 Root X 5 rd th th

B Chord C Chord (using A shape) (using A shape) Now try moving that whole position up one fret to x x create a B chord (A shape) and then up another fret to play a C chord (A shape). 1 1 1 1 2 3 4 2 3 4 Root Root Root Root

Note: Note: It is very useful to refer to the Guitar Fingering chart because if you do not know all the fret/note names they will be on here for you to see clearly.

Have a go at the other shapes, moving the shapes up a fret to play new chords.

MUSIC www.dsmusic.com Page 2 © Copyright 2014 DS Music Once you have had a go at this let’s try playing a C chord, but with all the different shapes so you can see how this C chord can move up the fretboard (fret no. indicated by a number/arrow):

C C Chord C Chord C Chord C Chord C Chord (using A shape) (using G shape) (using E shape) (using D shape) (using C shape) x x x x x 1 3 1 1 5 1 1 1 8 1 1 1 10 1 12 1 1 2 2 2 3 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root

It is interesting to note that if you move up the fretboard with these C Chords, the order of shapes follows the CAGED system spelling - i.e. the chords are in this order: C, A, G, E, D. So in the above example, we started with an open C Chord, then moved onto A Shape, G Shape, E Shape, D Shape and then looped back round to C Shape.

You can start at any point in the CAGED Chords order - for example if we start on an open E Chord we would then move onto a D Shape, loop round to C Shape, A Shape, G Shape and then end on the E Shape:

E E Chord E Chord E Chord E Chord E Chord (using D shape) (using C shape) (using A shape) (using G shape) (using E shape) x x x x 1 2 1 4 1 1 7 1 1 9 1 1 1 12 1 1 1 2 3 2 2 2 3 3 2 3 4 2 3 4 4 4 3 4 Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root Root

Here is an example of how the chords interlock together on the fretboard - the example on the left is from open C to C Chord, C shape, and the example on the right is from open A to A Chord, A shape. We have highlighted the overlapped notes in red so you can see how they connect together.

C Chord C Chord A Chord A Chord Open C G Shape D Shape Open A E Shape C Shape

C Chord C Chord C Chord A Chord A Chord A Chord A Shape E Shape C Shape G Shape D Shape A Shape

C A G E D C A G E D C A