What is CAGED?

The CAGED system is a framework for understanding the guitar neck using five open chord shapes: C, A, G, E, D. These five shapes, when connected, map every major chord across the entire fretboard.

The key insight: every open chord shape can be turned into a barre chord and moved anywhere on the neck. You've already done this with E-shape and A-shape barres. CAGED just extends the principle to all five shapes.

How the Shapes Connect

Take C major. You know the open C chord. Now if you slide that shape up 2 frets (with a barre), you're playing D major using a C-shape. Continue up and the next natural shape is A — then G, then E, then D, then back to C at the 12th fret.

For any single chord, the five shapes tile the neck in order: C → A → G → E → D (then back to C). The root note of each shape determines where it sits.

This means you can play any chord in five different positions, each with a different voicing and different highest/lowest note. This gives you enormous flexibility in arranging and finding voicings that sit well with other instruments.

Practical Application

You don't need to play all five shapes of every chord. The practical benefit is:

1. You can find a chord shape near wherever your hand already is
2. You can choose between voicings (higher, lower, fuller, sparser)
3. The scale patterns built inside each shape connect scales to chords visually
4. It demystifies the neck — everything is just 5 shapes repeating

Tab Examples

C-shape(open):  A-shape(3):   G-shape(5):   E-shape(8):   D-shape(10):
e|--0--|      e|--3--|      e|--5--|      e|--8--|      e|--10-|
B|--1--|      B|--5--|      B|--5--|      B|--8--|      B|--10-|
G|--0--|      G|--5--|      G|--5--|      G|--9--|      G|--10-|
D|--2--|      D|--5--|      D|--5--|      D|--10-|      D|--10-|
A|--3--|      A|--3--|      A|--5--|      A|--10-|      A|------|
E|-----|      E|-----|      E|--3--|      E|--8--|      E|------|

Five shapes of the same chord. Each sounds different due to voicing.

Tips

CAGED gives you 5 ways to play any chord — choose the one nearest your hand

The shapes connect in order: C-A-G-E-D, repeating up the neck

Focus on E-shape and A-shape barres first — they're the most commonly used

Each CAGED shape has a corresponding scale pattern inside it

Practice Exercises

Play C major in all 5 CAGED positions up the neck

Do the same for G major and A major

Practice connecting adjacent shapes — slide from one into the next

Pick a chord and find it in 5 positions without looking up the shapes