If you start on C the order is C A G E D. The order of the chords in the sequence always remains the same. You can apply this to all 5 chord shapes.Īll 5 chord shapes are organized in the CAGED sequence spread across the entire fretboard. Again each time you move up a half step the chord name changes but it’s still the same shape. Your chord has now become an “F” chord (played as E shape) Now in the third diagram move the entire shape up another half step. (Think of the bar as the nut of the guitar, the bar has replaced the nut) In the second diagram you move up the entire chord a half step (1 fret), play the chord with your middle, ring finger and pinky and bar the first fret with your index finger so you don’t leave any open strings. In the first diagram you start with an open “E” (shape) chord. Here below is another example with the E major chord. Each time you move up a half step the chord name changes but the shape name remains, because it’s still the same shape. Repeat this and move the shape all the way up the neck. In the third diagram you move up the entire shape another half step and it becomes a “D” chord (C shape). You’ve just raised your chord a half step (1 fret) that means you are now playing a “C#” chord (played as C shape). In the second diagram you bar the strings on the first fret with your index finger so there are no open strings left (you don’t have to bar all the strings, only the strings that are left open) and then play the C chord next to the bar with your middle, ring finger and pinky. In the first diagram you play a “C” chord. See the three diagrams below how you can move the C major chord up the fretboard. By barring the fret and then playing the shape next to it you can easily move the chord up and down the neck and play each shape in all 12 keys. That means there are no open strings in the chord. To do so we first have to take the 5 open chord shapes and turn them into closed chord shapes. Each chord shape can be moved up on the fretboard.

The CAGED system is derived from the five open major chord shapes: C, A, G, E and D.

It makes it much easier to find your way around the neck and understand how chords, chord shapes and scales are related to each other as well as a lot of other things on the guitar. The CAGED system gives you a logic overview of the fretboard. Let’s take a good look and see what this is all about. Well, if you want to be serious about guitar playing and you want to understand how the guitar in relation to the fretboard works, the CAGED system is an absolute valuable tool. So then, what’s all the fuzz about the CAGED system? Let me rephrase that “definitely something worth knowing about”. There comes a point when it’s unavoidable, that means it’s time and probably something worth knowing about. Whenever you try to deepen your guitar knowledge and you buy a guitar music theory book or look up something on the internet you keep bumping into the CAGED system.

Caged scales