- In any guitar geek's journey,
you're gonna hear the term CAGED System
and that you should absolutely learn the CAGED System.
So I wanna share with you the top five reasons why you
need to learn the CAGED System.
The top five reasons the CAGED System will benefit you.
So let me just dive right in.
First and foremost,
the CAGED System will help you use your capo.
A lot of times use the capo and we just think,
oh, it just changes the key for the song
so I can sing it better.
That's one use for the capo,
but there's a whole 'nother realm of the capo
that the CAGED System informs.
It'll allow you to change keys,
but retains the same chord shapes.
There's so many things that the CAGED System,
in conjunction with the capo, can create.
It's like a little power ball that you can hold
in your magical guitar wizard hands.
The next reason, reason number two, why you absolutely need
to learn the CAGED System is transposition.
Transposition is taking a song that's in one key
and changing it to a song that's in another key,
essentially changing the key of the song,
and the CAGED System allows you to do that very quickly
and very easily, if you understand it.
Reason number three that the CAGED System can benefit you
is that it allows you to
very quickly employ different chord voicings.
What's a chord voicing?
Well, a chord voicing, all that is
is somebody can play a G chord one way
and somebody can play a G chord another way
and they're both G chords, but they sound subtly different
because the notes are arranged differently.
The CAGED System allows you to do that really,
really quickly and really easily
because it's a systematic way of thinking
about the fretboard.
The fourth thing that the CAGED System can help
with your guitar playing, the fourth reason why you
need to learn the CAGED System is
that it will help you add sonic layers to a jam,
a musical situation.
Maybe it's just you and a friend,
maybe you're sitting there with a bunch of other guitarists,
and you look around and you see, gosh,
everybody's playing the same chord shapes,
if only I could play the same chords,
but in different shapes,
I would add another sonic layer to the jam.
So it's less one dimensional and more,
kind of, well 3D, if you will.
It just has different layers
and more sonically interesting things happening.
The CAGED System allows you to do that quickly
and easily once you understand it.
And the last and most, probably,
the most beneficial reason that you absolutely need
to understand the CAGED System is that it allows you
to organize the fretboard in little chunks,
so that it doesn't seem like this big thing
that you have to just memorize,
so it's right off the top of your head.
It allows you to kind of dice that fingerboard down
into little pieces so that you understand that,
here's a little piece and it's connected
to this little piece, and that little piece
is connected to this little piece.
It's little chunks, so you understand these little chunks
and really commit those to practice and memory,
so that when you look at the fretboard,
you see five distinct chunks,
instead of one long series of frets and strings
and thinking, gosh, I hope one day I figure it out.
The CAGED System allows you to organize the fretboard
and it goes well beyond chord shapes, right?
It's a way to organize scale patterns.
It's a way to see how scale patterns connect.
It's really the secret to improvisation.
Now I don't have all the time I need right now
to go into what the CAGED System is,
so I'm gonna give you the two core elements of
the CAGED System here, just kind of my nutshell version
of the CAGED System,
and then I'm gonna tell you about something that's,
we'll call it a bonus, that will really go
in depth on the CAGED System.
So here's the core elements of the CAGED System.
First, you need to know the open chord shapes
for the C chord, the A chord, the G chord, the E chord,
and the D chord, and it spells CAGED.
So it's really easy to remember.
And you need to understand that those open chord shapes
can actually be converted to bar chords
and hence they become moveable.
That's the first element.
The second element, is that each of those chord shapes
has a root note, and the root note names what the chord is.
The root note is the lowest bass note that names the chord.
And if you can identify the root note
of those five chord shapes,
in combination with them being moveable,
you can play any chord anywhere on the guitar neck.
And in a nutshell, that's what the CAGED System is.
Now, I've gone through the CAGED System in depth.
I've made a training video for you,
so that you can really dive deep on the CAGED System
and really understand it, with close-ups of the guitar neck,
the whole deal, and all you have to do
to get that training is go to FretWiz.com.
It's part of my free Fretboard Wizard Workshop series.
This happens once or twice a year
and it's in conjunction with
launching the full-blown Fretboard Wizard course.
Which is something that
I think it is a must for any guitar player.
In fact, I know it's a must for any guitar player.
We've been doing this for, this is the, gosh,
it's been going on for almost three years now,
and it's really helped a ton of people.
The feedback has been incredible.
But the crucial thing to know is
that this free Fretboard Wizard Workshop,
that kind of kicks off the Fretboard Wizard Course,
well, it's absolutely free
and it's really gonna cause a ton of lightbulb moments
for you, and in it is that deep dive on the CAGED System.
So please check that out.
Go to FretWiz.com and get your pen and paper ready,
get your guitar, because it's gonna be
absolutely amazing for your guitar journey.