- In this lesson, we'll give a brief introduction
to the CAGE System.
We're gonna talk about what the CAGE System is,
the C shape of CAGED, and applying numbers
to the CAGED patterns.
The CAGE System is a chord shape based approach
to further understand the guitar fretboard.
This method allows us to play a specific chord scale
or arpeggio type in every position on the fretboard.
We call the system The CAGED System
because we base everything on five simple
open position chord shapes.
The C A G E and D, open position chords,
and it spells out CAGED.
So once we have a grasp on these shapes of each chord,
we can then move them out of open position
and make them into movable barre chord shapes.
Then they can be moved anywhere on the fretboard.
Now we can move each of these CAGED shapes
to the same root up and down the neck.
So this is how the system is commonly used.
This gives us five different voicings
for playing the same chord in different sections
up and down the fretboard.
So let's check this out.
If we're in the key of C, I'm playing a C chord here.
Now I'm gonna play a few other C shapes up the neck.
We have one here.
We have one here,
here,
and also here.
Now don't worry if it seems like a lot right now
this is gonna take several steps to get us to this point.
First, we have to break down each chord shape.
For this lesson we're gonna be taking a close look
at the first shape of CAGED the C shape.
So even though we may be comfortable
and familiar with this chord,
it's a good idea to take stock of some details,
that'll help us move the shape around.
So we have our familiar C shape that we know and love.
Let's take a look at those details.
We're strumming five strings down from the A string.
This chord is rooted on the A string, third fret
and we have a second root,
an octave up on the first fret of B.
So we wanna single those out
and make sure we take a visual note of those.
So you can see they're two frets apart,
and we have two strings in the middle of them.
Now, as I'm holding the chord shape,
you can also see we have one finger on each fret.
All right, let's see how this shape relates to a D chord
by moving it up two frets.
So here's our C chord.
I'm gonna take the shape, slide it up two frets.
Now, because if I was to strum this,
we'd get some unwanted open strings.
So I'm gonna rearrange my fingers.
So instead of one, two, three,
it's gonna be two, three and four,
and I'm using my first finger
to barre on the second fret of G and a high E.
This is acting as the nut and I strum five strings down.
So here's our C chord,
slide up two frets, rearrange our fingers.
So now you can see this is the same shape.
So this shape is just two frets up from our C chord.
It's now a D chord
and the roots are now on the fifth fret of the A string
and the third fret of the B string.
Lets single those out.
So they were here for our C chord,
now they're here on our D chord.
So its important to visually memorize the shape
and where the roots fall.
As those are gonna act as the anchor or reference spots
when playing chords, scales or arpeggios.
So this is gonna force us to be aware
of what our root note is,
as we shift the barre shape around.
It's also gonna force us to memorize root notes
across the entire fretboard.
With this information,
we can then move that C major chord shape
to any other major chord shape on the fretboard.
So we were here on D.
Here's our roots.
Let's slide this up two more frets on another whole step.
Now this is an E major chord.
Here's our roots.
Lets slide that up one more fret, a half-step.
This is an F major chord,
with our roots right here.
And that's what helps us keep track of where we are.
All right, let's talk about pattern numbers.
Once we learn how to move these shapes around
it can be confusing to continue using the CAGED chord names
for each transposition up the fretboard.
So instead of saying C shape
when we're really playing a D an E or an F chord,
this can be confusing.
So we say numbers instead.
So for C, this is gonna be pattern one.
So again, if I'm on D with the same shape,
still pattern one.
Here's E same shape pattern one, F pattern one.
So then from there, the A G E and D shapes
will be called patterns two, three, four,
and five consecutively.
So A is two,
G is three,
E is four
and D is five.
Now eventually we can apply this process of transposition
like we did with the first pattern C
to the rest of these chord shapes.
Great work.
The CAGED System is a really big concept
and we just scratched the surface here with pattern one.
Now that you have a basic understanding of what it is
you can start to learn the other patterns
and apply this concept of transposing
to other chords, scales and arpeggios as well.
We'll see you next time.