You're about to try a free lesson from my CAGED Learning Pathway with Pickup Music! Let's get started by giving you an overview of what the CAGED system actually is and the steps you'll need to learn it. The CAGED system is based around five guitar chord shapes C A G E and D. We take these five chord shapes and move them up the neck. So for example I'm in the key of C, I play my C shape to get a C chord I then play my A shape to get another C chord I then play my G shape to get another C chord I then play my E shape to get another C chord and then of course finally I play my D shape to get a final C chord and we can do this in any key. Rather than get lost in a notion of notes this system gives you a map that breaks up the fretboard into these five shapes and the cool thing is that each shape connects to the next shape and it is this continuous cycle. We then build these shapes into full scales, we find the core tones, we find the pentatonic scale, then the major scale, and arpeggios. We can do the same thing for each shape and connect them across the fretboard. This allows you to break out of those beginner boxes and start to express yourself in a more melodic way up and down the fretboard. A good way to start your CAGED journey is to think about this: How many ways can you play a C chord up your fretboard? You should already know this open C fifth string root bar chord C and sixth string root bar chord C. Guess what you already know three out of the 5 CAGED shapes your C, A and E shape. You'll notice that each of these shapes has a name and these names come from your open beginning chords. So the C shape is based off the C chord you already know now this bar chord here Why is it called A shape? Check it out right here it's a C chord when you move it down it's based off this A open chord that you already know it's the same shape here we are as an A chord move it up now to C chord based off your A shape your E shape is based off this open E chord and when moved up can become any shape but in this case it's a C chord because of that route now one thing to make note of you'll notice I'm moving and using my first finger as the nut it's kind of like having your first finger become a capo. Let's get into the two remaining shapes G and D. You may guess your G shape is based off of this open G chord. Same thing as before so now when I move it up I can use my first finger as a sort of imaginary capo or nut and I'll move it all the way up. So my six string root is no longer a G but now a C. Now side note: I would not play this chord in real life so don't feel like you have to actually play it. It's about the visualization of it so notice this is a C chord G shape now same concept for your D chord. Take this D shape you know and love and we're gonna move it up and act as if our first finger then becomes like the capo or the nut. Move it all the way up to where our C is a root this is a C chord D shape. So let's summarize what we have: We started with the C shape. Notice how this route connects to the next chord right here and now we're going to this A shape, they share that root. Now check out the front of my A shape how it connects to the back of my G shape. They have this zone right here that will call the equator, Where this A shape and G shape connect. So check out this with the G shape this front root six string connects to the next shape our E shape same root. Now the front of the E shape connects to the back of the D shape. We have this fourth string root right here that connects to our D shape. So all five shapes connect together and it is a beautiful circle where this D shape notice a little triangle connects to the high up C shape that same triangle is at the bottom of our C shape. So there we have our five shapes of the CAGED system. So let's take a step back. The CAGED system is not about playing these shapes I've been showing you perfectly up and down your guitar neck, it is about how to see the fretboard, it's unlocking the neck so you can move seamlessly from one end to the other in any key. You can use the CAGED system to learn scales, to learn arpeggios, to learn triads, and most importantly it truly is a system for visualizing your fretboard. In this exercise We're gonna play the five shapes of the CAGED system C A G but we'll break it up into two pieces just the lower and the higher E shape and just that triangle of the D shape. We're doing this because it's gonna really help us set up that foundation so you can visualize the shapes. Once again this visualization is so important! So this doesn't have to be perfect don't get stressed out about making sure every note is perfect more so what's important is that you can visualize it. You can see it. You have a feel for it. So give it your best go. Starting with our C shape 1, 2, 3, 4 Get ready for that A shape 4 G shape broken into two pieces E shape and D shape 2, 3, 4 Whole thing from the top, okay. Back to the C shape 1, 2, 3, 4 G shape E shape Great work! So what we'll do in this next exercise is play our roots in each shape. We'll start with our C shape and play our root on the 5th string, our root on the 2nd string. Jump up to our A shape right here and play our root on the 5th string and play that root on the 3rd string in our G shape. We have three roots 6th string 3rd string notice that same 3rd string from our A shape I still want you to be paying attention to how those chords connect and then that root on the 1st string. In our E shape we have three roots as well 6th string 4th string and 1st string. In the last shape or D shape we have two roots. 4th string That low open string and if we're in our open position. So we have our 4th string and then our 2nd string root. Let's get ready get into that C shape well identify these roots. Ready for the A shape. Here we go. G shape Here we go 3, 4 E shape 3, 4 D shape 2, 3, 4 Back to the top 2, 3, 4 Switch 2, 3 G shape 3, 4 Switch 2, 3, 4 If you want the full experience including interactive tab, play along exercises, and video feedback of your playing sign up at PICKUPMUSIC.COM today. You can try the full program for free for 14 days!
