Six Strings
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The full CAGED system

On the Intermediate path, you played C in its five shapes. Now it’s time to do the same in any key, without searching. Goal: find a randomly drawn major chord in its five shapes.

Time
15 minutes a day for a week
Before you start
Triads and inversions; An introduction to CAGED
You’ll be able to
Play a major chord in its five CAGED shapes

The order never changes

Whatever the key, the shapes follow one another in the order C, A, G, E, D, then start over. The only thing that changes is which shape you start with near the nut: the one of the open chord.

  • C: C, A, G, E, D (open C is a C shape).
  • G: G, E, D, C, A (open G is a G shape).
  • A: A, G, E, D, C.

G in its five shapes

e|-3-3-7-7--10-|
B|-0-3-8-8--12-|
G|-0-4-7-7--12-|
D|-0-5-5-9--12-|
A|-2-5---10-10-|
E|-3-3---------|
  • G shape (frets 0 to 3): open G.
  • E shape (frets 3 to 5): the E-shape barre chord at the 3rd fret.
  • D shape (frets 5 to 8): open D moved up five frets, on the four high strings.
  • C shape (frets 7 to 10): open C moved up seven frets. The root is on the A string, 10th fret.
  • A shape (frets 10 to 12): the A-shape barre chord at the 10th fret.
GBDGBBDGBDDGBDGGBDGBDBDGBDGBDGB
GBDBDGDGBDGBDGBDGBGBD

High E at the top, just like in tab.Neck seen from the front, headstock at the top: low E on the left, just like a chord diagram.

The method for any chord

  1. Find the root on the low E string and on the A string.
  2. Place the two shapes you know best: E (root on the low E string) and A (root on the A string).
  3. Fill in with their neighbors: the D shape always follows the E shape, the G shape always comes before the E shape, the C shape always comes before the A shape.

With the two barre chords as anchor points, the other three shapes always land in the same place relative to them.

The hard shapes

The G and C shapes are hard to play in full. Nobody does: you keep three or four strings, often the triads from the previous lesson. CAGED is mostly for knowing where the chord tones are; it’s up to you to choose which ones to play.

Exercise: the random draw

Draw a note at random (write all twelve on slips of paper). Play the major chord in its five shapes, going up, saying the letter of each shape. Time yourself: under a minute, then under thirty seconds.

You’ve got it when…