The CAGED system

David Raleigh Arnold

Explaining CAGED

CAGED is simply a mnemonic for shapes, forms, or fingerings of chords based on the appearance of easy chords in first position. You visualize them played with open strings but then you bar them in some higher position. CAGED is just a mnemonic, not any part of music theory.

When you know the CAGED system, you don’t know much, but a useful and demanding bar exercise might be made out of it.[1] The purpose of this system is to get a partial physical knowledge of where the notes of the major chords are.

A “0” (zero) is used instead of a “1” for the diagrams because it is hard to see a 1 on the grid. This is convenient here because the zeroes will show where open strings would be if you were playing the same shape in the first position (“I” (Roman number one), or loco).[2]

As you should know if you are reading this, a C chord might be written so:

  C
o  o o
╒╤╤╤╤╕
││││0│
├┼┼┼┼┤
││2│││
├┼┼┼┼┤
│3││││
├┼┼┼┼┤

This chord is not usually very satisfactory with the open “e, ”[3] as the bass note, but here I want to indicate a chord note on every string. A “C” chord consists in the notes “c”, “e”, and “g”, and only those notes, but several notes must be doubled to play a six-string “C” chord. In this case the chord is <e, c e g c' e'>.

As you can see, the e’s and c’s are doubled. The “c” is played twice and the “e” is played three times.

If I were to move the “C” chord up one fret, transposing a half step up, it would become a “D♭” chord:

  D♭
╒╤╤╤╤╕
0││0│0
├┼┼┼┼┤
││││2│
├┼┼┼┼┤
││3│││
├┼┼┼┼┤
│4││││
├┼┼┼┼┤

The D♭ chord has the form or shape of the C chord. We are simply barring instead of using open strings. That is the way chord forms are named in the CAGED system. The “C” in CAGED refers to the form or shape or fingering of the chord, not necessarily to the actual name of the chord. This D♭ chord is played in “C” form.

Using the C Chord as an Example

All of the chords in the diagrams following are C chords (C major triads) in various inversions. A “C” chord barring the III fret may be made by fingering the “A” form. A “C” chord barring the VIII fret may be made by fingering the E form, and so on.

The fingering for the “D” shape is possible but highly improbable and not very practical. Omitting the note on the ① or ⑥ string gives two very common and useful shapes. All the rest are playable, sometimes played, and good to practice.

Two diagrams are used to avoid confusion from overlapping. CGD is on the left and AE is on the right. Alternate. CAGED gives the order of the chord forms as you climb up the neck.

o  o o
╒╤╤╤╤╕   ╒╤╤╤╤╕
││││0│ C ││││││ (C -- not barring)
├┼┼┼┼┤   ├┼┼┼┼┤
││2│││   ││││││
├┼┼┼┼┤   ├┼┼┼┼┤
│3││││   00│││0 A form -- Bar III fret
├┼┼┼┼┤   ├┼┼┼┼┤   (form, shape, fingering)
││││││   ││││││
├┼┼┼┼┤   ├┼┼┼┼┤
││000│ G ││234│ (G form -- Bar V fret)
├┼┼┼┼┤   ├┼┼┼┼┤
││││││   ││││││
├┼┼┼┼┤   ├┼┼┼┼┤
│2││││   ││││││
├┼┼┼┼┤   ├┼┼┼┼┤
3││││4   0│││00 E form -- Bar VIII fret
├┼┼┼┼┤   ├┼┼┼┼┤
││││││   │││2││
├┼┼┼┼┤   ├┼┼┼┼┤
│00│││ D │34│││ (D form -- Bar X fret)
├┼┼┼┼┤   ├┼┼┼┼┤  (without a long neck or
││││││   ││││││   cutaway, you may stop here)
├┼┼┼┼┤   ├┼┼┼┼┤
2││3│3   0││0│0 C form fingering -- Bar XII
├┼┼┼┼┤   ├┼┼┼┼┤
││││4│   ││││2│
├┼┼┼┼┤   ├┼┼┼┼┤
││││││   ││3│││
├┼┼┼┼┤   ├┼┼┼┼┤
││││││   │4││││ (A form -- Bar XV ...)
├┼┼┼┼┤   ├┼┼┼┼┤
││││││   ││││││  etc.

Putting CAGED to Work

Of course you could start with an “A” chord in loco instead of a “C”, and go up the neck with the GEDC forms, or start with each of the five easy chords CAGED and play their forms:

CAGED
AGEDC
GEDCA
EDCAG
DCAGC

Wouldn't hurt. ☺

End Notes:

§1 There is no such thing as a good easy exercise, because practicing music is much better use of your time and effort. Good exercises must be difficult.

§2 Roman numbers made with capital letters are used to indicate position in guitar music. Position is nothing more than the number of the fret that the first finger is at.

§3 Chord names are in capitals (“C”) and note names are in lower case (“c”).

©2010 David Raleigh Arnold - http://www.openguitar.com