The Truth About the CAGED System

hi my name is paul davids and in this video i'll share with you the truth about the gauge system but first coffee [Music] ok the gauge system often a thing that raises more questions than explaining things and even more often topic of debate but it's such an easy concept that there is absolutely no reason not to understand what it's about and it also really helps if you've been following along with the music theory series I've been doing especially episode 1 it's really useful so let's get to it the Caged system is not a new concept or a mysteriously new vision of the guitar it's just a way to describe how the guitar works it's just a way to label things that already exist I often hear people bashing the Caged system for absolutely the wrong reasons it's something like saying gravity is such bleep so gauge really helps you visualize how chords and scales present themselves on the guitar it's just a combination with how music works how chords are built and how the guitar is tuned and the real power of Caged is that you can link it to chords two scales two arpeggios and combine them all people always try to label and categorize things it's in our nature and cage is a way to label the chords played on the neck into five different shapes see a G and D hence the word caged they spell out a word super handy super trendy super easy to name it but it's really not that important to give it a name because I was already using this system long before I even knew it was called caged but yeah you can use these shapes to play around freely on the entire neck of the guitar but why do you want that freedom it really unlocks the fretboard as they say and makes the guitar a more transparent instrument and each shape has its own benefits and the places on the neck and opens up different things you can do with it and of course you can play all these chords in much more ways than just a five but to create some structure in that these five are really helpful so here we go the most important thing you should understand is that you can move open chord shapes all the way up the neck and if you understand how to do that it's very easy so the first step you need to take is to figure out the root note of the chord so we start with shape four which is the fourth letter of gaged is an e c AG e so we're going to play an E chord so this is an e shape and an E chord we're gonna use the shape to play different chords so we're gonna move this shape up the neck so we're going to determine where the root note of this chord is and it's the sixth string that note is an e so if you want to move this chord up we see that some strings aren't moving up they are the open strings but all strings need to be moved up so if we moved up this chord let's say three frets from here to here we're not moving the open strings so we need to play the chord without our index finger so our index finger can help us move the open strings up as well so let's move this one say first one fret the open strings become fret one so our index finger needs to bar the first fret accommodating for the open strings [Music] so the open strings are found on the e the high e the B and the low E string so I'm fretting these strings with my index finger but we want it to go to fret 3 which is all the way up here so now we're playing an e shape chord but the court we are playing we can name that on the basis of the root note which was as we just discovered on the sixth string of the chord so the note I'm playing is a G fret 3 on the low E string so it's very important that you know the notes of the neck if you want to use this technique you can learn that by checking out my video the most essential thing when learning music theory so you can name the notes and I'm sure everyone is familiar with bar chords maybe you can't play them but you've seen them I'm sure so if you're playing Barre chords you're using the Caged system already so you can move this chord everywhere you like and just name the notes and then you're playing that chord so let's say we're going to fret 10 now I'm playing a D chord because there's note is a D fat 7 B major chord and you can basically do that on every fret of the next you like ok but now do it with a different chord shape let's start with the first the C shape so first we have to determine the place of the root note for the C shape the root note is on the fifth string that's the root note of the chord so that know determines what chord we're playing so if you move this shape up let's say a whole step to fret 5 again we're missing the open strings they are left behind they didn't move up two frets so we need to play this chord but now without our index finger so we're going to move this shape up to fret 5 and our index finger is then barring the first and the third string the high E and the g string because that were the open strings of the C chord and now we're playing what Cordes days well we need to find the root note again which is still on the fifth string so for this shape it's always on the fifth string so you don't have to think about it it's fret five which is a D note so you can think of it in two ways or you can say we move the C chord up two semitones or a whole tone so C to D it's one one tone up or you can just check out what court this is we're playing and that is always reference to the root note the D so if you move it up another three semitones to felt eight for example now we play an F chord so I can imagine this shape is a little bit difficult for you at first but it's really one of my favorite shapes to play nowadays it's really easy if you get the hang of it and one thing I'd like to do is to change the shape just a little bit to make it more playable I almost never play the first string with this shape so just the middle four strings so you don't need to Barre anything it's just five for two and three it's a really convenient shape for your hand it's just it almost flows with a curve of your hand so it just had to tilt your hand a little bit and preferably hold your thumb on the neck so you should always have the freedom to change these shapes up a little bit they aren't fixed shapes you can always alter them to your liking so if the shape you moved up is a little bit too difficult to play just I made a few strings that's no problem so this is a chord shape which features in the song snow heigh-ho for example is it snow heigh-ho heigh-ho the second chord shape and then and a fourth courtship [Music] [Applause] [Music] right lovely so that was a c-shape the next letter from the Caged word is an a so we're taking a look at the a chord the open a chord just play it without your index finger at first that's most handy now we can move it up let's say three frets one two three now our index finger needs to accommodate for the open strings which is the fifth string and the first string and the root note of the a chord is at string five again the same as to C shape which is an a at the a chord so now we move it up to fret 3 now our root note is still at string 5 from number 3 and we know that that note is a C so now we play a C chord so this is the same corn as that one but it sounds differently because it's a different shape okay now to the G shape this one is a little bit different there are many ways to play an open G like this or this for example if we want to move this shape up I suggest you play the chord without your index finger at first like this and now we have to determine the root note well of course the root note of the G chord is at string six that is the root note so if we want to move this up to let's say an a chord from G to A is two steps two semitones so we need to move it up two frets root if dantana so we need to move it up for two frets so from fret 3 to fret 5 now our index finger needs to accommodate for the open strings to be the G and the D string and this is a very uncomfortable shape it's not really undoable but I never saw someone play this chord like this myself I never played it before in the song so what can you do with this shape you can do multiple things but my favorite is to just play the root note with your pinkie fret 5 and bar your index finger on the D the G the B string this is a real cool chord shape this is just an acorn and move it up [Music] every way you like another thing you could do is to play the bottom top four strings so the e so now we don't play the root note but nine out of ten times it's not a problem well you can play the middle four strings so the G shape is a good example of how it can help you visualize certain things you don't have to play the G shape like this even so I suggest you don't play it like this but it can help you visualize where the notes of the chords are for example so the a chord these are all notes from the a chord which one do you want to play well you can choose any of those [Music] cool that's very cool to know if you want to make an interesting guitar part for example so the next shape is in Egypt we already discussed and the last shape of those is a D so the D shape is a little bit the same as 2 G because playing the shape one on one isn't that comfortable so let's say you want to play an F chord need to move it up three semitones so 1 2 3 we need to move the open string up as well so the open D string becomes an F this is a real useless shape it's really uncomfortable so but you can just use the top three strings for example it's a real cool way to make your chords a little bit different than what you would usually expect so another cool thing let's play the C chord in these five different shapes and you see that they are all linked together with common notes so [Music] so all the shapes I was playing had one note from the previous shape and the order of the shapes is C AED gauged so basically we're just playing the same chord in five different ways let's take a look see shape the a shape the G shape the shape the D shape and again the C shape and again the a shape again the G shape okay so the C chord can be played at any spot of the fretboard you like and the shapes all have notes in common so the C shape has the root note in common with the a shape and the a shape has those three notes in common the bar notes five five and five on the D G and B string and then the common notes from the G to the e is the root note again now we've got this now the octave of the C which is the same note as the first from the D shape now the top three strings are the same as the notes from the C shape so understanding that all these shapes are linked together they just form one big chord basically that's really where you can start making your own shapes for example so now let's make some music with it I got a chord progression C and F I'm gonna play it on the entire neck [Music] [Music] [Music] all right so you see I was moving up but I was only playing a C and an F chord only those chords so I played the C like this and a half like this and I moved up see like this then I played an F D shape but I was making a major seventh chord out of it which is a real cool chord if you want to play 2d shape so it's fret 3 and then 5 5 and 5 so you can play these on the 1st or the 4th chord of the key a major 7 then I moved up to the G shape of C and then to the f ck behalf so when I'm playing these chords I'm definitely not thinking a shape C shape a shape but I just know it's a major shape of the court I'm looking for the names are just for those who want to learn the shapes as a reminder it's the same with spelling for example at first you have to learn the rules in order to make it come out quickly and naturally now to the each shape we'll see the a shape of F and now to the D shape of C but again a D major 7 shape so we have a C major 7 chord because this court is just not very fun to play that's why I'm taking the freedom to make it into a C major 7 chord and then the G shape and then back to our C shape of C and our each shape of F so I understand the last minute was a little bit fast if you're not comfortable using these shapes but that's not a problem so if you're absolutely new to this you shouldn't learn all these shapes just at once it doesn't work you should learn them one by one and really incorporate them into your playing so maybe you already know that E and the a shape now it's a good point to start using the C shape as well the key is really finding these shapes logical thing to play when you're playing a chord progression and the next thing would be adding skills to the courts linking the chord shape to a skill shape for example if you play an F chord over here this Court is really well suited for adding let's say a Maitre pentatonic to the scale so we've got this progression see and have that just play the courts a little bit and I'm gonna add the scale so see [Music] [Music] and you can use these shapes to play some more melodic lines as well so if you're soloing for example and you know the chord progressions you're playing over some of these shapes can really help you target out the notes you want to be playing over that chord all in all it's a very useful and helpful tool to make you a better guitar player and help you understand the guitar better and the more I talk about this stuff the more I realize that everything is connected everything you know makes what you are as a player so just learning the Caged system without anything else is pretty useless and just learning music theory without any practical knowledge doesn't get you far either just learning a skill without any knowledge when to use it it doesn't get you far too so it's all these things you learn that make you a much better player and this was about the Caged system so I hope you understand what's just about and how you can use it and the biggest step is to really just take it in slowly and use it into your playing you can't learn it in one day it just has to grow you have to use it into your playing to become useful so this was Paul day if it's and if you like what I do please consider signing up to my patreon page and like this video share this video comment beneath this video and see you next time have a wonderful day bye [Music] [Music]

Channel: Paul Davids

Views: 2,030,915

Keywords: caged, system, caged system, guitar, explanation, technique, tutorial, lesson, C shape, shapes, chords, neck, unlock the fretboard, paul davids, paul, davids, understanding the neck, beginner, advanced, acoustic, what is, theory, three notes per string, scales, master the fretboard, the truth about caged, the truth, why caged works, caged guitar, a shape, E shape, barre chords, bar chord, barre

Id: L-0c5QTQ8Q0

Length: 18min 43sec (1123 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 25 2018