The Benefits Of The CAGED System

This is another attempt to help you understand the benefits of the CAGED system.

In the CAGED system article we saw that:

• The caged system is a simple method for learning and visualizing the scales and the chord tone that they are made of
• This system is based on 5 chords: C, A, G, E, and D.

In order for you to understand it better, I am going to take a C major and transpose it in all the five shapes so that you will see for yourself what are the benefits applied to guitar playing.

• The C major – The C Shape
• The C major Chord – The A Shape
• The C Major Chord – The G Shape
• The C Major Chord – The E Shape
• The C Major Chord – The D Shape

By analyzing the above diagrams you can see the following:

• All 5 shapes have the same notes as the C major chord in the open position
• You can see that every 2 shapes have a common root note
• The name C, A, G, E and D “flow” naturally one after another
• Every shapes look like it’s open position correspondent with an added capo.

So now you probably can see the benefits of this system

• You get to cover all the fretboard and adapt the chord shape judging by the position that best suits you.
• It is a good exercise for learning fretboard visualization.
• It is also a very good exercise for developing your finger independence.

It may look easy to take a chord in the first position and just go up and down the fretboard, but I assure you that when put to practice you will start to know what I am talking about :).

How to make the most out of the CAGED System?

In order to benefit the most out of this system, I invite you to do the following. You don’t have to do them in any particular order, I am just giving you some suggestions so that you have where to choose from.

• Just play the above diagrams on your guitar, just move from one to another and be amazed by the fact that they sound the same :). Try playing them cleanly and you can even use a metronome.
• Try using the other 4 shapes and move up the fretboard.
• Visualize the root notes as you play shapes. This will help you a lot when you will try to improvise.
• You can also take a chord and see the notes that it is made of and as you go up with shapes see the succession of notes in every chord shape.
• I recommend that you can use this CAGED run-up as a warm exercise for a while. 🙂

If you find other cool ideas feel free to leave a comment so I can try them out too. 🙂

In the end, I would like to tell you that mastering the caged system takes time but with patience, everything can be done.

PS: I’m waiting for other caged system benefits if you find any :).