CAGED system

[ohdamnitsdevin]

Is anyone here familiar with it? I've been trying to get to that next level and I keep coming across it. It seems like a very good program to follow but, before investing all that time into it (there is A LOT of information to digest in this program) I'd like your opinions on it. Thanks!

 

[Larry]

Very interesting, thanks for posting!

 

[acwild]

I learned the traditional way and then learned about the CAGED system years later. If I started with the CAGED system, I think I would have progressed much faster with more understanding of the fretboard. You have to understand that it'll teach you how to "speak" through your guitar but not how to read and write. CAGED also makes a nice skeleton for all of the other scales. Fretboard Logic is the book that I bought although I'm sure that there's a bunch of others out there now.

 

[Larry]

Do you have a exact link to an overview? Couldn't find a really good example off Google.

 

[Jamie M]

The CAGEDD system is very useful. I learned it years ago. It takes a lot to get your head round but worth it.

 

[koogie2k]

Very familiar with it. Helped me quite a bit. Very useful to learn. I would recommend it.

 

[peterd79]

Very familiar... used it this morning... i would invest the time into the Caged system... or at least keep the concept in your mind... another very good practice plan is to really and i mean REAAAALLLY dial in the basics... make sure scales are DIALED and Chord positions are just part of your DNA...
then start adding in the CAGED stuff...

just as an example... two weeks ago i had a solo and i just RIPPED IT... i mean not to boast but i thought it was the single best solo i had done... it was throwing in all the frills and pinch harmoinics while using the wah (EB of course) and then finishing up the run with a sweep up the neck...

today we did the same song and it sounded just as good with the basics - so you can really nail songs with basics... which is my point...
i think it's all about note placement and voicing of those notes...

but yeah... CAGED is awesome to have in the back pocket as a tool

 

[ohdamnitsdevin]

Do you have a exact link to an overview? Couldn't find a really good example off Google.

Free Guitar Lesson - TB-031 ? The CAGED System for Guitar


The best site I've been able to find covering ALL the ins and outs of the CAGED system. Video tutorials also available fo FREE!

 

[ohdamnitsdevin]

Very familiar... used it this morning... i would invest the time into the Caged system... or at least keep the concept in your mind... another very good practice plan is to really and i mean REAAAALLLY dial in the basics... make sure scales are DIALED and Chord positions are just part of your DNA...
then start adding in the CAGED stuff...

just as an example... two weeks ago i had a solo and i just RIPPED IT... i mean not to boast but i thought it was the single best solo i had done... it was throwing in all the frills and pinch harmoinics while using the wah (EB of course) and then finishing up the run with a sweep up the neck...

today we did the same song and it sounded just as good with the basics - so you can really nail songs with basics... which is my point...
i think it's all about note placement and voicing of those notes...

but yeah... CAGED is awesome to have in the back pocket as a tool

Great response! You're right. I forget how essential the basics are. I think we all do. Even when the greatest of the greats are practicing they practice the basics and they practice them slow! Slow and steady wins the race I know but, I'm so impatient! I want to be a legend NOW!

 

[matty76]

I recommend Guthrie Govan's book Creative Guitar and Cutting Edge Techniques as well

was the book that put it all together for me (and an interesting read as well)

covers what the cage system is, major and minor forms, how they relate to the major and minor pentatonics, full harmonized scale, and a good tool for learning where all of the root notes, 3rds and 5ths are for each position in any key, as well as arpeggios, and how easily they relate to these same chord shapes and sequences.

from there you can start adding major/minor 7ths, dominant 7, diminished, augmented, sus...etc..

baby steps, learn a little every day, before you know it, it will become second nature...
although I'm not there yet.

Jamie Humphries also has some great videos on Lick Library (Fretboard Navigator 1 &2) that are also great!

 

[Jamie M]

Yeah Jamie H really rates it, he has a book out as well which covers the CAGED system.

 

[straycat113]

Devin it is not that hard to comprehend and is a good navigation tool in opening up the fretboard where you can see how things are laid out. I know the system and a lot of players rely on it heavily, some not so much, or at all. I use it to a small degree and find it most useful with arpeggios. The issue is that some of the voicings are not very comfortable or ones you would see used in most songs, for instance in a major form the G and D shape.You are basically taking the first chords shapes you learned -C-A-G-E-D and using your index finger as a capo learning those 5 shapes of a chord, the underlying scale shape, and arpeggio, up the neck in each of those forms. As matty-76 stated it can get as complicated as you like by learning minor, major-7th, minor 7th,dominant-7, diminished, min7b5, voicings. There is a very good site Learn Guitar Online with Free Lessons | Frethub that has a very extensive (and best I have ever seen) study on it that will take you through all the voicings as well as the dominant7th and diminished ones and membership is only $9 a month.

 

[DrKev]

Yep, Mike is right. My students eyes pop when they see me do a barre G shape chord and a barre G7 is will have tendons in your hand flying across the room.

But the point is not to use all these chord shapes (because some of them are very inconvenient) but seeing how everything is laid out, which unlocks the chord voicings and arpeggios. It's at its simplest with the basic major chord. We see how one chord shape interlocks with the front or back of another shape (and of course your pentatonic shapes fit neatly on top too). This way we start to learn our voicings up and down the neck. And anybody who has flicked through Ted Greene's "Chord Chemistry" will see how all those bazillion three and four note voicings arise.

 

[colinboy]

I second Jamie Humphries fretboard navigator.Ive got them both ánd they are great dvds.He goes into a lot of detail and explains the caged system very well.

 

[Larry]

Free Guitar Lesson - TB-031 ? The CAGED System for Guitar


The best site I've been able to find covering ALL the ins and outs of the CAGED system. Video tutorials also available fo FREE!

Cool thanks Devin!

 

[ZakkD]

The CAGED system is the most helpful thing I've ever learned. I can write songs so much easier, I think every guitarist should at least give it a go and see if they like it. The idea of being able to find any chord all over the fretboard is just awesome!