The CAGED system for guitar explained

in today's lesson i'll be teaching you about the cage system i love the cage system it helps unlock the fretboard so you can move from one end of your instrument to the other seamlessly in any key as you can see below this is a pretty long video but that's because we're going to be working together and practicing i'm not just showing you information but we're working through it together so grab your guitar and let's get started welcome to day one of your cage boot camp in this lesson we're going to be talking about our c shape which is based off of our c chord i know you're familiar with the c chord and we're going to take this thing that you know and move it around the guitar so you can see how this shape can help us open up the fretboard using the cage system so let's first start by just playing the c chord and what i want you to do is now re-finger it so instead of making it so you're using your first finger second finger and third finger switch it around so you're going to use your pinky and your third finger and your first finger this is going to allow us to use our first finger to mimic what a what a capo would do it's going to bar down those open strings because in our c chord so what happens is if we try to play this chord higher it doesn't sound good we have to uh we have to accommodate for those open strings and by moving up the shape with this first finger acting as a bar so now that you are in this c shape let's move it up let's move it up one fret and now put your first finger down and put your first finger down to bar the first string second string and third string you don't need to waste energy by having your first finger bar in the entire uh the entire the entire first fret and it should sound like this so i'll play one note at a time and i want you to do the same thing notice it's the same shape as we were working with before this c shape got moved up and now it still has a c shape but it becomes a c sharp chord using a c shape because we've moved up one fret so everything gets one um one note higher now the thing that i want us to start to look out for are roots roots are going to be a good way to guide us through the fingerboard in all of our shapes our c shape a shape g shape e shape and d shape so let's go back to that c shape in in the original c chord position and find those roots so in this shape our roots are on the fifth string and second string notice they sound the same but they're an octave difference on our fifth string is what we would call the bass note the root it's the lowest note of the chord and that's going to be one of our guide tones and our next root is one octave higher on the second string and the same thing is true when we move the shape around so now go back and move it up a half step so now we're playing our c shape [Music] and our roots are still on the fifth string and second string but it's no longer c it's c sharp because we moved up and the same thing is true if we move it up one more fret so check it out now i'm going to be so my pinky is on the fifth string i mean fifth fret excuse me and our roots are still fifth string and second string these are two d notes and we're using our c shape notice it came from the c chord but it's a c shape that is being brought up and you can use the shape all over the guitar c shape roots fifth string second string your first finger bars behind it to act as that capo that would exist now this concept stays true no matter where we are on the fretboard we started in c went up to c sharp and went up to d and the same thing is true even if we go all the way up to something like g now if you're having trouble figuring out where we are remember the roots are our guide so when we're back down here on the on in c [Music] on the fifth string that third fret is a c note so we know it's a c chord on the fourth fret that's a c sharp notes we know it's a c sharp chord but once again always using our c shape on the fifth fret of our fifth string that's a d note so we know it's a d chord now if we go up to the tenth fret we know on the tenth fret of our fifth string that's a g so that means this is a g chord in our c-shape with our roots on the fifth string of the tenth fret and the eighth fret on the second string my homework for you today is four different exercises exploring the c shape now i want you to do these four exercises two times total it should take you about 30 minutes and you can take a little break in between now i know it may feel tedious because these exercises aren't particularly exciting but this is the sort of thing that will really set you up to understand your fretboard and have a deeper understanding of how to play the guitar my first exercise for you is going to be playing our c chord and then playing the roots it'll sound like this you'll play the c chord for one bar one two three four and then two beats of one root and then two beats of your higher root so one two one two so when i put all together it sounds like this one two three four one two one two so follow along with me and we're going to do this eight times together notice i am playing in this way where my first finger is free because i'm trying to set up for later shapes where i do want to bar my first finger if that's super challenging don't worry just play your c chord and this is going to be the c shape you'll be using just work on it one day at a time it will get easier i know some of these chords feel weird because your muscles don't know how to get there yet but you will get there just be patient so without further ado i'll count you in and then we'll dive into this exercise eight times in a row one whole bar on c two beats on our root which is our fifth fifth string and then two beats on our other root which is on our second string one two three four [Music] three four one two [Music] [Music] one more time two three four one two two now i'm going to have you dive into the same thing over a g chord using our c shape what i would suggest is getting into that shape we were playing before you're barring your first finger if that's challenging don't worry you have two other options you cannot borrow your first finger so you can get used to using your pinky third finger and second finger or you can just play your c chord that you're used to playing and slide it up all the way so your third finger is on the tenth fret now let's try it i'll count you in one two three four g two three four g two g four g two three four [Music] four g g g two three four g g g two three four g [Music] g two more times g two three four g [Music] g last time two three four g g [Music] now i want you to try the same thing on a d chord now think about it for a sec before i tell you what fret is a d note on on our fifth string because that's where we're going to put our pinky fifth fret yes so get into this chord and play the shape if you can with your first finger barring if you can't like i said before you can always just play this normal c shape without the fingers moving and the bar um but with just as a reminder if you do strum that it's going to be a different chord because of those open strings okay so i'm going to get into the c the c shape but on a d chord so my pinky's on the fifth fret it sounds like this and we're going to do that same exercise one more time one two three four two three four d d two three four [Music] d d one two three four d d one two three four d d two more times one two three four d d last time one two three four d d nice work now i want you to combine everything we just did in exercise one two and three and put into one exercise we're going to play that same thing we just did with whole note and then root two beats root two beats we're gonna do that twice on c and we're gonna move all the way up to g and do that two times through in g and then go back down to d and do that that same thing twice in d and we'll go around that whole cycle of c g d two times playing each chord sequence twice i'll count you in so follow along with me one two three four c two three [Music] [Music] now from the beginning whole thing again back to [Music] up to g and [Music] g and [Music] [Music] congratulations on finishing day one welcome to day two what we're going to be exploring today is our a shape which is all based around that cage system while i know this all can seem kind of tedious and it is make sure you were patient because this kind of thing is really how you're going to understand the fretboard and grow as a guitarist so instead of thinking of it these things as exercises try to get in a more meditative state that helps me a lot when i'm doing things that can feel tedious and are tedious um but you know try to make sure the sound is good breathe with it while it may seem a little hippy dippy it really helps now to recap what we did so far we checked out that c shape which is based off of a c chord and explored it around the fretboard we checked out c g and d what i would recommend doing is also explore other chords you know there's 12 different chords that you can explore using that shape move that around the guitar and remember that we were really focusing in on those roots because the roots are the guide for how to see the whole fretboard we're going to do that same sort of thing using our a shape today our a shape is based off of this a chord you may play it like this using your first second and third finger maybe you learn to play it like this using your second third and fourth finger or just using your first finger it's all the same chord and so with this a shape it's actually a bar chord is what it's based off of so you know this a shape and if you move it up to the third fret with your first finger it becomes a c chord now this barre chord is based off your a shape like i just said so now follow me i'm going to take this bar chord shape and move it back down so i have an open a notice it's an a chord this is our a chord which is also our a shape so what happens if i take this a shape and move it up one fret [Music] it becomes an a sharp bar chord based off that a shape same thing now if i move it up one more fret it's a b bar chord b chord based off that a shape one more fret same thing it's a c chord which is based off of our a shape because of this a shape right here which started here i want to make sure we know these roots because everything is based off those roots that like i've said many times that's kind of our guide it lets us know what chord we're actually playing regardless of the shape um so in a our roots our fifth string that's our root our base note and also our second our third string third string and fifth string [Music] and move the shape up to c so my first finger will be on a c note and then i'll bar my third finger which gives us that c chord using our a shape and just like in our c shape our our roots don't change no matter where we are on the fretboard our roots are always on that fifth string and now third string can you hear how they're the same note but just an octave apart c and then c an octave higher on our third string and there notice there are two frets apart third fret and fifth fret so that is our a shape which is the bar chord you should be familiar with and i want you to notice something interesting about how these shapes are starting to connect we will dive in this to we will dive into this deeper into when we get into our exercises but notice this the c bar chord which is based off our a shape [Music] our roots on that fifth string that's c note what about our c shape c chord we have that same root they share a root c shape a shape and they're both c chords the same thing is true let's move it two frets higher a shape using our d chord because the root is a d note c shape d chord we have our d chord in our c shape with our root on the fifth string fifth fret and then we have our d chord using our a shape our root is on the fifth string fifth fret these shapes connect our c shape and our a shape connect so get that in your mind because we're going to be building upon that my homework for you today is five different exercises these five exercises should take about 30 minutes total a couple pointers if any of the exercises are feeling easy feel free to move forward to the next exercise also if your hand is getting tired you don't have to leave it pushed down my hand gets tired doing this too for example you could do something like this just hit it two three four c c you don't have to keep your hand pushed down the whole time because that's very tiring and we want to save our hands and not over tire them out once again get into that meditative state with all of this i know it's tedious but this is a great way to really understand your fretboard your first exercise is going to be really similar to yesterday's exercise we're going to be playing our a shape on a c chord [Music] and we'll strum the chord and then we'll play root root two beats each so just like yesterday follow along with me i'll count you in one two three four two three four root two three again c [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] root [Music] now we're going to continue to build on that and move that shape around the guitar we'll be doing it on a g chord which is on our 10th fret because that's where our root is there's your g note follow along with me and one thing to make note of if you're struggling finding these notes it's okay to look but also it's okay to close your eyes and mess up a little bit because that is how you're going to be growing with this don't don't get frustrated if you hit some wrong notes this is a part of the process of growing there's a little bit of pain so breathe in breathe out we got this one two three four two three four g g two two three four g [Music] g [Music] g again two three four g g two more times g two three four g g last time g two three four g g now our third exercise i want you to play the same thing except on a d chord so our d chord starts on the fifth fret because that is our d root follow along with me one two three four two three [Music] d [Music] d last time a two three four d d now just like in day one we're going to combine those three exercises together and play c two times through the sequence g two times through the sequence and then d two times through the sequence two times all the way through total i do wanna say i know this is really meticulous if you feel great about it you can always skip ahead or not necessarily play all eight times for example of me going [Music] if you feel really good about it play it a couple times and move on to the next exercise one other note if your hand is getting tired you don't have to push down the entire time if we're on d for example you can go d two three four d because i know this can be really physically demanding these bar chords are challenging so don't be frustrated about that my hand gets tired doing this too and i've been playing guitar a really long time okay let's dive into this exercise so once again follow along with me um one two three four see two three four see see one more time two three four c now we're gonna go up to g and g two three four g g one more time g two three [Music] whole thing again back to c c 2 3 4 c c 2 3 4 c get ready for g slide up to g two three four g g one more time g two three four g g last chord two three [Music] nice work exercise 5 is going to build on everything that you've gone over so far we're going to take our c shape and our a shape and put them together using that same sequence we've been doing where we strum the chord for a bar and then play each root for two beats we'll do that so for example this is what would look like in c we'd play c 2 3 4 root root then play our c chord a shape and root root so we'll do each of these twice and we'll go c g d that whole thing two times around so we're building on everything that we've been working on if you feel good on this you're in a really good place to move forward [Music] now move to our a shape of our c chord two three four c c one more time two three four get ready for your g chord c shape two three four one two three one more time two three four now our same thing a shade two three four one two one more time two three four we're going to go down to a d chord c shape two three four [Music] last time two three four back to the beginning and see two three four see [Music] get ready for our a shape c chord [Music] two three four [Music] two three four get ready for your c-shape g chord three two three four two and two three four a shape g chord two three four more time two three four you're ready for c shape d chord [Music] two three four so close we got this one more time two three four two a shape two three four one two last time two three four nice work that one is challenging you've made it to day three which is all about the g shape before we dive into the g shape i want you to do a quick recap of what we've done so far which is our c shape based off the c chord which is mobile so for example if it's a d chord using our c shape sounds like this remember where our roots fifth string second string and then yesterday what we talked about was that a shape and so remember this is what it looks like if we're playing a d chord and our roots are on the fifth string and third string we're going to build on that material using our g shape which as you may have guessed is based off this g chord [Music] with this g chord there's three different roots the three roots are on our sixth string that's our base note and then we have third string one octave higher and then this is a little different we actually have three roots in this chord one octave even higher which is on our first string and one way to kind of remember that is thinking about our guitar we have two e strings and these are always octaves of each other they're always the same two notes so in our g chord our sixth string third string and first string root the shape is pretty crazy to try to play and a lot of what this cage system is is visualization so we want to be able to see and understand where these chords are and where these shapes are and where our roots are um so for example if i move this up to c thinking where is our root on a sixth string right here sixth string c root playing this shape is is nothing i would ever ask you or anyone to do i can barely play this it's challenging i would never really play this as a chord i would visualize it as a shape which is what this cage system is all about visualizing these shapes so we have access to this to the guitar the fretboard in any key anywhere we'll get deeper into all of that so as a reminder we are in this c c chord in a g shape so we are based off that sixth string eighth fret root c root we're gonna break it into two pieces instead of strumming this whole crazy thing which is not fun to play i would never tell anyone to play this chord because it's challenging it's all about that visualization the first part is our pinky on the root and then our second finger is one fret behind it on the seventh fret of our fifth string and our first finger is two frets behind that on the fifth fret of the fourth string and it is all based off that g shape because there's the same distance between each of those notes so that's part one and the second part is on the higher three strings we bar our first finger on the fifth fret in this case and put our pinky on the eighth fret that higher root so there's one root in the lower shape which is our sixth string and there's two roots in the higher shape which is our third string and our first string so while it's coming from this g shape move forward with this imaginary bar right here we're breaking it down into two pieces lower three strings higher three strings so when we're getting into all these exercises focusing on those roots sixth string third string first string we've made it to day three homework with this there are six different exercises that i want you to do and they should take about 30 minutes exercise one two and three while important exercise five and six are really a culmination of everything we've worked on so be sure you dive the deepest into that and really understand this i know it gets monotonous so a couple suggestions get into that meditative state and also if you feel really good about exercise one move on to exercise two same thing with with three if you feel really good about exercise two and three you know move forward exercise five and six is where it's at so get into that one make sure you understand those really well happy practicing i will see you back here tomorrow and we will explore our e shape a shape i love very much for exercise one you're going to be building on what you did for exercise one in day one and day two so we're keeping everything consistent we'll start in a c chord using our g shape and instead of strumming the chord because like we just talked about that's no fun we're not going to do that i want you instead just to focus on the roots and we're going to play each root two times um and then go back down to that middle root so it's consistent and it's two whole bars it's gonna sound like this lowest root two middle root highest root middle root and they're two beats each so follow along with me and we'll go through this a handful of times one two three four [Music] be sure to visualize the shape c c c again c c c c [Music] once again it's all about that visualization exercise number two is really similar except in the key of g using our g shape so based off this guy but we're not necessarily going to get into the shape let's do the same thing and and play our route [Music] and it may actually be cool just to stay in that that shape because it's going to help you visualize for all the other shapes we're going to be doing i mean it'll help you visualize for the other chords we'll be doing using that same g shape follow along with me and we'll play those three roots in the same way as we did in exercise one except this time in the key of g instead of the key of c one two three four g g g again g g g g again g g g [Music] last time [Music] nice work exercise three same concept except in the key of d and once again we're going to be using this half and that half of the shape to visualize it because that's no fun to play okay so follow along with me and i want you to be playing those roots again the sixth string root third string root and first string root all based off that g shape and we're in the key of d which just starts on the tenth fret with your pinky there one two three four d d d again [Music] again d [Music] two more times d [Music] d now i want you to do exercise four with me and this is the same as we did for day one and day two we're building up from exercise one two and three combining c to g to d and we'll go through that cycle two times through one two three four c c one c time c c c to g and g one more time g d here we go d [Music] last time get ready to back go back to the top c [Music] down to g one more time g g g up to d [Music] last time [Music] you did it okay are you ready this is where it really starts to count i want to combine our a shape and our g shape and this is we're going to do the same sort of thing using the same sequences we've used before we'll go in c and then we'll do the same thing in g and then the same thing in d one note about our g shape we're actually gonna play something kind of crazy we're going to play up because i want you to see how these connect so if this is our g chord using our a shape we're actually going to instead of going down here for our g chord g shape we're going to play an octave up which is the 15th fret if you don't have room for that on your guitar you can play back down here because this is all about visualizing how they connect so if you can kind of squeeze forward you might not have that cutaway and try to just use your fingers to get that g root g root g root and connect it to this a shape we're going to start using our a shape c chord and then go up to our g shape c chord and now the thing i want you to notice is once again how they connect these roots are how is how they all connect so this third string third string root on our a shape connects to the third string root on the back of our g shape [Music] notice that's coming from that same place g shape a shape [Music] follow along this root is connecting the a shape to the g shape okay so let's try that exercise we'll spend we'll go to c a shape c g shape and then do that same thing in the key of g and d one two three four c two three four c see one more time c two three four c up to our g shape two [Music] one more time get ready for our [Music] g two three four two one more time i'm gonna do our g shape in that higher up octave g g g g one more time g g g down to d a shape two three four d d one more time two three four you're ready for your g shape one two three four two one more time three four and we're gonna go back to the top using our c chord a shape two three four two three four two again two three four [Applause] g shape one two [Music] get ready for g chord a shape one two three four one two one more time two three four g shaped g chord that high octave last time we're so close down to our d chord a shape two three four two three four d shape two two last time we're so close we did it so this exercise is really important exercise six combines everything we've done in day one day two and day three so make sure you really understand this one before moving on what we're going to do is as you may guess um you may have already guessed is we're going to combine our c shape our a shape and our g shape using that same sequence that we've been using and do it in c in g and in d okay so we're going to start on our c shape then do our a shape then do our g shape in the key of c same kind of concept in the key of g same concept in the key of d c shape a shape g shape because i want you to see how each shape connects this c shape connects to our a shape with that root our a shape connects to that g shape with that root on the third string roots roots roots roots are the key to visualizing this fretboard using our caged system follow along with me one two three four one two three four [Music] to the a zero c chord two three four one more time two three four get ready for your g shape c chord [Music] now we're gonna dive into the key of g c shape two three three four g shape with that really high octave g g g g one more now our d chord c shape two three four one two one more time two three four get ready for your a shape [Music] two three four one more time two three four g shape d chord [Music] great so if you feel good on this then you're in a really great place to move forward to the next lesson welcome to day four which is all about the e shape based off this e chord one of my very favorite chords in the whole wide world that's a free fun fact for you okay so this e shape when you move it forward becomes a bar chord that you're familiar with you know this f bar chord right here and how when you move it up to the eighth fret it becomes a c bar chord this barre chord is a part of that cage system it is our e shape so pay attention notice how this i'm playing this e chord flipping my fingers around so my first finger is free shift it up one fret flattened my first finger strum a chord and it's an f chord one fret higher than e and this is going to be the mobile shape we use for our e shape which is the fourth shape of our cage system we're gonna be starting like we have been in c so that's our eighth fret and once again roots roots roots i know i'm like a broken record but i want you to get those roots in your head um roots in this case are six string [Music] fourth string and first string so we have three different octaves of the root we have lowest c root in this case middle c root which is that middle octave and the highest octave which is c as well and as always notice how they connect all of these connect remember how c shape using this fifth string root connected to our fifth string root in our a shape and then that third string root from our a shape connected to that third string root [Music] from our g shape now check it out this six string group from our g shape and the key of c connects to that six string root in our e shape do you see how we just got through four different chords that are all c using these four k shape c chord c chord c and c so we're starting to get to get through this fretboard using these cage shapes so you don't you're not stuck with one c you got four c so far so if you're feeling good from lesson one which was c shape lesson two which was our a shape and then that lesson three day 3 which was our g shape get ready for day 4 which is all about that e shape are you guys ready for some homework using this e shape what we're going to be doing is doing a handful of exercises the first two exercises are just isolating this e shape and looking at it in the key of c and the key of g and then as we've done before we're going to build on it so we'll put those two together for exercise three now that part is important but the stuff i really want you to get into is exercise five and then exercise six that is a culmination of everything we've worked on so it's connecting roots it's seeing these shapes all in one key across the fretboard and once again i know it's monotonous get in that meditation zone visualize it have fun with it get it make sure it's sounding good you know instead just like doing it and grinding through it be like does this sound good am i at peace with my insurer my and yeah i know it's i know it's woo silliness but it really helps um getting getting in a good state of mind is so important for this kind of work exercise four is putting together your g shape and your e shape so for example in the kia c you can see how those connect these two roots are the same in our g shape and our e shape so we'll be exploring that in exercise four and then exercise five which is like the big one connects our c shape [Music] to our a shape to our g shape [Music] to our e shape if you have this down by the end of today you are in great shape to continue on to the following day so i know this stuff is gonna feel tedious but like i've been saying like this is the foundation of the cage system which for me and all my students is how they really open up the fretboard so you can flawlessly play from one side of your instrument to the next without getting stumbling you know you'll really know your fretboard so this is the foundation i know it's not super exciting but take a break dance around jump up and down drink some coffee whatever helps you get in the zone go for a walk that helps me um do those things um because it's really going to help and also i'd say pair this stuff with creative stuff you know just have try to have fun and explore these shapes a little bit and we'll get deeper into that as we move forward with different lessons but stay patient this is the path to unlocking this thing exercise one as you may have already guessed is really similar to our exercise one from day one day two and day three so now on day four we're gonna be taking that e shape in the key of c which is let's think where's that root it's all based on these roots the lowest root of c is on the sixth string eighth fret so the sequence will go as follows chord two three four six string root fourth string root first string root so it will be two and a half bars total because it'll be four beats and then two beats two beats two beats follow along with me and we'll play through this a handful of times one two three four two three four c c c [Music] c c c [Music] last time two three four c c c victory we did it nice work there exercise two we're now gonna move to the key of g and do the same thing use that e shape strum the chord and play those three roots two beats each i know it's monotonous but you're gonna know your root so well by the end of this thing okay g follow along with me e shape so see this chord visualize it get it in your head one two three four two three four g g [Music] g [Music] g [Music] exercise three we're gonna combine exercise one and two smush them together and we'll do um the c sequence twice the g sequence twice and then back to the c sequence twice and back to the g sequence twice get ready here we go one two three four c two three four c c c two three [Music] four [Music] c c c to g two three four g g g one more time two three four [Music] for exercise four we're going to be connecting our g shape and our e shape in two different keys c and kia g so just like before i really want you to start to visualize and see how these shapes are connected because that's what caged is all about seeing these shapes seeing how they're connected being able to seamlessly go from one end to the fretboard to the next so in c let's just check them out in c and g and see it's going to be like this you have that backwards backwards kind of shape like we had talked about these two parts of your g shape connect to your e shape and this root on the sixth string is what ties them together same thing is true in the key of g we're going to be doing this lower g now g g and g connects to g g and g this these six string g's are what tie that g shape with the e shape we'll go through that whole sequence twice first in c then in g and again in c then finally in g and this is a really important one so make sure you really get it and you see it visualize it press pause if you're like i don't see it because the seeing it is what it's all about g shape c key to start one two three four c c c c one more time c two c four c now to our e shape two three four c c c and g shape and one two one two one two one more time get ready for our e shape [Music] back to the beginning that c chord g shape one more time we're about to go to our e-shape and see and two three four one two one two one more time before we go to our [Music] root [Music] okay this exercise is the culmination of everything we've worked on so far your c shape your a shape your g shape and your e shape and connecting them together seeing how these roots connect from one shape to the next we're going to do this in two keys using the same sequence we've been doing we'll do it in the key of c and in the key of g in the key of c you can we'll start with our c shape and go to our a shape then our g shape using those roots and then our e shape in the key of g we're going to keep going higher so let me walk you through this we'll do our c shape our a shape and then g shape up here and all the way on our 15th fret for that e shape if this area is crazy on your instrument all all guitars you know we have different guitars you may not have this huge cutaway that i have it's okay to move back down here for our g shape and our e shape so you would do your c shape in your a shape higher up and your g and your lower down that's also a totally cool option are you ready okay i think i am one two three four c two three four c two three two three four now to a shape [Music] get ready for your g shape g shape and c one more time and e shape here we go two three four one more time two three four get ready for your g shape c chord two three four one two one more time two three four a shape two three four time two three four g shape g chord either octave is okay i know it's crazy high up here one more time [Music] e shape get ready [Music] now let's take it back to the beginning one two three four two three four time two three four [Music] [Music] one two one more time [Music] e shape here we go two three four [Music] here we go two three four one two [Music] again two three four g shape here we go lower octave is okay too i'll play it lower now [Music] g shape e e chord [Music] that was a lot we got this great job and if you feel comfortable on that you are in a great position we made it to day five which is all about this d shape based off the d chord our fifth and final shape of our cage system we went through our c shape [Music] our a shape [Music] our g shape our e shape and now we finally made it to the d shape which is based off this chord so check it out it's the same sort of thing where in our d chord there's that open string so we have to accommodate for that and um so how i like to play it is re-finger it so i have my first finger free to play that fourth string root because when we're playing this d chord we have two roots don't forget it's all about them roots um fourth string root which is open in the key of d and then on the second string so let's re-finger that shape and make it so our first finger is free so it's still that triangle but i'll walk you through it your middle finger second finger is on the third string second fret [Music] your third finger ring finger is on the first string second fret and then your pinky hits that root that d note which is the third fret of your second string so this is your d shape now what happens when you move it one fret up we have to also put our first finger on the first fret to act as that sort of like imaginary bar or capo because if you don't it doesn't sound real good our roots are consistent they're always going to be in our d shape they're going to be our fourth string and our second string so like if i move one more fret up it's an e chord in our d shape the fourth string root second string and the thing that's so cool about caged as you guys know is they all always are connecting so and it spells the word cage c-a-g-e-d so in that order is how they're always going to connect our e-shape now connects to our d-shape so let's be now moving to the key of c this e shape our fourth string root is going to connect to our d shape fourth string row so store that information in your head because we're going to be using it in some of these exercises and once we master this stuff and just play the guitar using the cage system to unlock the fretboard um and i will like to say make sure you have a good grasp on your c shape a shape g shape and e shape before diving into your d shape and we'll do some exercises later on that use all this information and put it together your homework for day five is all about this d shape we're first kind of breaking down what is this d shape and how do we play it around the guitar neck and then your later exercises are going to use that whole concept of connecting different cage shapes together exercise 4 is a really important one it connects your d shape with the e shape so we go from our e shape to the d shape and in the key of c you can see how this connects your e shape to your d shape but then in this last exercise i really want you to hone in on this one we talk about for the first time the circular nature of the cage system how when we end with d it actually goes right back to c so that d shape the front of that connects to the back part of our c shape congratulations you're almost through this level stay patient you only have a little bit left and i promise you it's worth it because you're really going to have a stronger understanding of the fretboard when you finish so now i want you to follow along with me and do our first exercise using our d shape and you know we trip we're trying to keep this consistent for you and what i want to do now is be in the key of c using our d shape so it's all about those roots and i do want to say with this d shape it's hard because i think we're so used to knowing the roots on our sixth string and our fifth string and we don't know like the letters of uh like all the note letters on the fourth string as well but you can still use your sixth string root to find your fourth string root because that whole octave thing so if you know this is a c then you know on the fourth string that's the c and you put your first finger there and boom you got yourself a d shape so we're going to use this d shape which has our first finger on the 10th fret of our fourth string and our next root is the is the 13th fret of our second string so we'll use the same sequence as before we're going to strum for a whole measure and then do two beats on one root and then two beats on the higher root follow along with me we'll do it a handful of times together one two three four two three four again two three four two three four again c chord two three four c c one more time two three four [Music] we got this our second exercise we're going to do the same thing as exercise one except in the key of g so we'll be using our d shape in the key of g to play that sequence through a handful of times our root is on the fifth string of the fourth fret [Music] notice there's that one fret in between them that's a good way to remember it and also if you think back to this d chord which is the foundation of the d shape that first fret has no fingers so there is that one fret of nothing happening so now let's go back to g [Music] and let's trim along one two three four two three four two three four g two two three four two three four again two three four two more times two three four last time two three four g g in exercise three we'll combine what you just did in exercise one and two together we'll do that same sequence in c twice then down to g twice up to c twice then back down to g twice one two three four two three four [Music] two three four [Music] one more time g [Music] in exercise four i want you to connect your e shape to your d shape we've talked about this a little bit but i really want you to pay attention to how the shapes and those roots connect together that's really the foundation of what we're doing here we're seeing these shapes and connecting them across the fretboard and really any key because i don't want you to be bogged down by keys because these shapes are a way to kind of unlock that and play play across the fretboard we'll do this first in c so notice how your e shape this fourth string root connects to your fourth string root in your d shape and we'll play it the same sequence we've been playing for all of this um with a chord and then you strum each of the roots for two beats using our e shape and c then our d shape in the key of c then our e shape in g and our d shape in the key of g and we'll go between those two two times total so i'll count you in one two three four two three four again two three four now to our d shape two three four again two three four down to g of g e shape three four one more time two three four d shape here g two three four [Music] one more time two three four down e-shape in the key of g [Music] again two three four [Music] again two three four for exercise 5 we're going to see how the cage system is circular c connects to a connects to g connects to e connects to d we've talked about that but d connects back to c and we're going to explore that in this exercise for example when we're in the key of c here's our d shape and this second string root actually connects to the back side of this c shape you can actually kind of see this d shape in your c shape do you see how they are there's so much overlap so notice those roots are connecting we're going to explore that by doing the same sort of sequence we've been doing by connecting our d shape to our c shape in the key of c and then also in the key of g as in good our d shape in the key of g to our c shape we'll do the same thing as we've done before we'll play each of those sequences twice d shape sequence c shape sequence in the key of c and the same thing down in g and we'll go around the whole thing two times let's start with our d shape in the key of c one two three four two three four one more time two three four now get ready for your c shape with your root on the 15th fret two three four root root one more time two three four now to our d shape and the key of g two three four again two three four to our c shape in the cube g two three four one more time two three four back to the top c shape d c chord d shape three four [Music] three four d shaped c chord and now we're going up to our c shape c chord two three four [Music] three four get ready for a d shape in the key of g two three four one more time two three four last thing c shape two three four one more time two three four [Music] welcome to day six what we're going to do is connect everything we've done c shape a shape g shape e shape d shape back to our c shape because remember it's surf it's a circle everything connects back to the other one which is one of the amazing things about cage and i really want you to hone in on the roots and how the roots connect from one shape to the next they're all sharing so like the front part of one is the back part of the next one the front part of the next one is the back part of your foot of your neck shape you see what i'm saying they're all connecting and and we're going to explore this through roots and through shapes be sure you're visualizing everything because that's really the key is see the shapes and then you'll we'll get into how you actually explore them down the line so be patient get through this part and it's going to set you up to make everything else everything else easier you really need the strong foundation to continue on so stay patient we got this you're almost there my homework for you today is three different lessons these lessons are important to understand because it's it's sort of the culmination of everything we've been doing it's not just these shapes and isolation it's not just visualizing those shapes and seeing those roots but seeing how these shapes and roots connect from one end of the fretboard to the next and they're all going to be in the key of c so you'll have a really strong foundation in the key of c which will then set us up for success as we move through different keys make sure you really understand these three exercises before moving on for exercise one we're going to go from one end of the guitar to the other and then back down we're actually going to do something we haven't done before which is play the octave we'll just be playing the chords for each of these so we'll be playing our c shape in c a shape in the key of c our g shape and the key of c which will break down into two pieces lower three strings and higher three strings e shape d shape now here's the crazy part we're going to actually play our c shape again one octave higher and if any of these shapes as you know like feel funky don't do them you can always just like play your c shape and accept the open strings um if you can do the bar though do the bar i know all of us have different physical we're in different places with our instrument so don't beat yourself up if the shape is hurting don't do it so we'll play through this just one whole note on each chord except when we get to that g shape we'll divide it into two so we'll do two whole notes from one end back to the octave of c back down one two three four c shape two three four two three four g shape two three now the higher part and g shape two three get ready for your e shape two three four three two three now we get to the octave two do this one again at the top and c shape we're gonna go back down now to our d shape two three four e shape two three four g shape two three in the higher part of our g shape two three get ready for a shape two three four c shape two three four and now what i hope you're doing is visualizing and understanding and really seeing how these shapes are connecting from one to the next exercise two is now diving into the roots we're going to be honing in on just looking at these roots in each shape from one end of c that first c shape in the key of c to the octave of that c shape in the key of c and you'll spend two beats on each root so it'll sound like this root switch a shape switch and you'll go from one end all the way up to the top and just as a note for your g shape you have three roots and for your e shape you have three roots all the other ones you have two roots so follow along with me from one end to the other back down to the bottom two beats per root um one two three four c two a shape two g shape [Music] e shape d shape c shape c shape again [Music] d shape [Music] e shape g shape [Music] a shape c shape [Music] our third exercise is putting together exercise one and two together so we'll be looking at both our chords and our roots from one end of the guitar to the other in the key of c and back down we'll strum our chords for a whole note and then our roots for two beats each we'll do the same thing on that g shape we're dividing into two one two three four top part two three four one two one two it'll sound something like that while i know this may feel monotonous this is the part that counts is putting all the information we spend so much time learning and understanding together um because the next step is making some music with this so here's exercise three one two three four two three four see a shape two three four g shape two three four two three four [Music] e shape two three four d shape two three four c shape two three four one more times c shape at the top two three four back down to your d shape two three four e shape two three four [Music] g shape two three four two three four two two a shape two three four c shape two three four if you just did that then congratulations that was super challenging um you should feel good about yourself because that it's hard stuff to really see all these shapes from one of the fretboard to the next and you're setting yourself up for success with this congratulations you have made it to day seven you've been working hard it's been tedious it's been monotonous but if you're here you've done a really great job of staying patient and going through all this material and what i want to talk about now is just making sure you really understand and you're seeing all the things that we've been talking about how this cage system connects the c shape the a shape the g shape the e shape and the d shape together and it's a circle like that it doesn't matter what key you're in and we're going to get deeper into that in the next level so stay tuned for that and because we've mostly been in c for all of that um you know seeing how this c shape connects your a shape and how these roots are part of that that story of how that all happens the front part of your c shape is the back part of your a shape the front part of your a shape is the back part of your g shape that front part of your g shape which is these two roots is the back part of your e shape now the front part of your e shape is the back part of your d shape and like we've been talking about that circle happens the front part of your d shape is the back part of your c shape it all connects it's one big circle it doesn't matter what key you're in which once again we'll get into in later levels but the thing to really see is the how these shapes are connecting the shapes are connecting the roots are connecting the roots are your guide just so you know what's coming up we will be continuing to build on all this material we'll be connecting the cage shapes in different keys and um applying scales to them too so you can start to improvise and create different melodies this part that we're doing right now is the foundation of all of that so make sure you feel really good on it if you can do it well in the key of c that means it'll be easier to apply to other keys so to finish up this level we're going to do a few different challenges one is a musical challenge so we're going to put all this material that you've been doing into a more creative musical song and we also have a few quizzes so be sure you feel good about all that stuff it might take you a few days to get through because this is going to set you up for success down the line for other levels for this challenge i want you to recognize what shape i'm playing and identify what chord it is so here's an example if i was to play this [Music] i'd give you a second and then you'd be able to identify this is a c shape with a root on d meaning it's c shaped d chord i'll give you a bunch of these and a little bit of time between each one of them feel free to press pause so you can have a little extra time if you want it to and also please play along with me because i think that may be a nice way to not just see it but also be able to do it so here's your first shape [Music] that is an e shape based off this e chord and their roots on an a note so that's your a chord e shape [Music] [Applause] this one is a d shape based off this d chord root is f so that makes it an f chord d shape [Music] now this one is our c shape and you can either call it an f sharp note or a g flat note same thing so it's an f sharp chord or g flat chord in our c shape [Music] that's an a shape based off our a chord and the root is an f so it's an f chord a shape [Music] playing this one a couple different ways so you can see how it's broken down and the full thing it's our g shape with our root on a c note c chord g shape we've got a few more still [Music] that's our c shape e chord [Music] a shape root on a g that's a g chord [Music] e shape with our root on an f sharp note or a g flat note remember those are the same things you can call them either so either an f sharp chord or g flat chord same thing using our e shape [Laughter] [Music] this is a d-shaped d chord but we moved it all the way an octave up so it's a d and one last one [Music] it's a g shape with a root on an e so it's an e chord using our g shape for this challenge what we're going to do is i'm going to play one shape in any in a different key and you're going to have to play the next shapes roots so here's an example if we're in the key of d and i play my a shape [Music] your job is to find the next shape which you know if you always spell cage that's how you know c connects to a connects to g connects to e connects to d connects to c so a shape connects to our g shape so then you would play the roots in your g shape in the key of d got it get ready let's do this okay first challenge here we are e shape in the key of g can you play the root in the next shape up e shape connects to the d shape so then i hope you went to this shape and located these two roots on our fourth string and second string great job we got four more next spot we're going to be playing in the key of e our a shape [Music] what's our next shape play those roots after a is our g shape so i hope you went right here and saw this shape and played those roots now let's try it in a different key let's try it in e flat also known as d sharp c shape these roots right here what's our next roots what's our next shape what are those roots play those after c after c is a so i hope you played that great next one in the key of b as in boy here's our g shape we're playing all these roots what's next i hope you said this your e-shape and you played these three roots we got one more here in the key of f here's our d shape now remember what happens after d c a g e d i hope what you did was go to your c shape because remember it's that circle it goes back from our d-shaped roots those connect to our c-shaped roots thanks for checking out level one of this cage boot camp for the full thing go to pickupmusic.com

Channel: Pickup Music

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Keywords: caged system for guitar, the caged system, the caged system guitar, guitar caged system explained, caged system explained, caged system guitar lesson, caged system guitar, how to use caged system, the caged system explained, caged system for guitar explained, what is the caged system for guitar, caged system lesson, caged system scales, soloing with the caged system, caged system lead guitar, how to play caged system, using the caged system, caged system tutorial

Id: -nphFK6HFjY

Length: 94min 41sec (5681 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 09 2021