:: jay toups: caged theory explained and applied ::

Welcome to Yet Another Web Page on CAGED theory. (If not one of the first.) I taught guitar in Salt Lake City, Utah for many years and hammered out a lesson from CAGED Theory in the mid 1980s to help my students learn fingerboard mechanics faster and better. I'd never heard of CAGED prior to that, so I gave the method an obvious-sounding name, which turned out to be in wide use by other teachers and players. Of course, you could also say I was living under a rock...

I'm not taking credit for CAGED theory, just this "lesson wrapper" around it. That and if you came here from a Google search for CAGED theory, this page is the first link. Wow, something I've done is #1 worldwide, has to do with music, is non-polluting...and it's free. If anyone has information about CAGED theory before 1990, please let me know. (Thanks to Shawn Kipfer for pointing out Bill Edwards' books on the subject, from 1983!)

Noteworthy observation:

Everything you need to know about using CAGED is on this page. However most novice and intermediate guitar players require 1 to 2 hours of instruction (i.e., keepin' it real) to understand and retain what is presented on this page. So if you get CAGED just by reading the text, studying the examples and applying them to your guitar, great! If not, contact me, I can help!

CAGED theory is a simple and intuitive, touch-based roadmap to the guitar. I have taught this method for more than 20 years to many guitar players of all abilities. It is proven to work for any player who can understand the fundamental premise, practice it, and apply it to their technique and repertoire. For both reading and non-reading players, CAGED theory can increase your chord vocabulary five-fold in about two hours. By touch. That's just the start. Playing melodically and improvising in any key comes if you stick with it.

Ready for the magic dust? HERE IT IS: By playing these first-position C,A,G,E & D chord shapes in the proper sequence (and with the back of the hand), you're getting ready to take the next step: Into the CAGED Cadences.

How you'll play 5 shapes (voicings) of a C chord: Begin with fingering the first-position C shape, A shape, G shape, E shape, and D shape. (That's the meditation you'll need in order to do this in any key.) Start CAGED Theory with the C chord. If you finger the 5 shapes correctly, the root note of the chord (underneath your straining pinky, ring or index finger) is always going to be a C note.

Start at right : 5th position.......4th position.......3rd position........2nd position.....1st position "C"

Begin again. C shape of C, A shape of C, G shape of C, E shape of C, D shape of C. What's that spell?

From here, it's simple to go through the rest of the mnemonic, as in 5 shapes of A, G, E, D. Think of it as a chording circle that begins with whatever key you're playing in. Let's take the key of A. Each time you choose a basic chord, in this case, A, that becomes the first letter of the mnemonic: just think "AGEDC" by forming the first position of an A chord and beginning there. That's A (or 1) shape of A, G shape of A, E shape of A, D shape of A, and finally, C shape of A. Follow?

"GEDCA" by forming the first position of an G chord and beginning there. That's G (or 1) shape of G, E shape of G, D shape of G, C shape of G, and finally, A shape of G.

"EDCAG" by forming the first position of an E chord and beginning there. That's E (or 1) shape of E, D shape of E, C shape of E, A shape of E, and finally, G shape of E.

"DCAGE" by forming the first position of an D chord and beginning there. That's D (or 1) shape of D, C shape of D, A shape of D, G shape of D, and finally, E shape of D.

What about Minor Chords?
There is no difference in how the cadences work; just substitute the minor chord forms and move through the 5 shapes of, say, Em. Em chords use the EDCAG cadence, so you'll need to start with a first position Em, then 2nd position D minor shape (moves up 3 frets), then a C minor shape(difficult but doable), then an A minor shape, and lastly, a G minor shape (also difficult, but doable.) If you can visualize what all of these shapes look like when you try to play them in the first position, you will be able to figure out how to finger them up the fingerboard in other keys.

What about 7th Chords?
The best way to apply 7th chords in the CAGED framework is to simply use them in each of the 5 chord shapes. This is useful for blues and jazz, because the D shape is easily changed from D to Dmaj7, Dmin7, D7, etc., even a Diminished chord that is also portable up and down the fingerboard.

What about your right hand?
Glad you asked. A great way to integrate your fretting and picking hands is to practice using TITM (Thumb, Index, Thumb, Middle). And I mean practice. Each of the 5 CAGED shapes responds very well to this plucking order, once you figure out what the root note is. Simply play TITM beginning with the root. So if it is a C shape in the first position, you would pluck TITM on the 5th, 3rd, 4th, and then 2nd strings. To give things some bounce, try alternating the first thumb strke on the root with the 5th or 3rd note of the chord, either above or below the root.

Give it some time, and don't dilute it. Play it over and over until it sticks. Play through each shape and change without looking at your hands. Use your ears and just remember what key you're in. That's 5 shapes of a chord in every key, using the back of your hand approach as in the picture. And when you think you've got the cadences pretty well licked, try using a metronome to smooth out your timing.

Then use the 5 shapes to improvise a well-known melody, such as Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Amazing Grace, the Star Spangled Banner, Jingle Bells or Silent Night, etc. If you can wrest a chord melody out of the shapes you're playing, you can consider yourself a CAGED graduate with a bright future on the guitar. How long until you achieve CAGED nirvana? Pay attention to the method until it disappears, and it'll be exactly that long. You're most welcome. Now go have some fun!

One final note: I am a lefty player and the cadence picture has been reversed to look like a righty fingerboard to avoid further confusion. I hope the method works for you as well as it does for me! Visit my music page! (Disclaimer: my musical ability has nothing to do with how well CAGED can work for you. Your mileage may vary considerably.)

Thanks for visiting. And thanks for bookmarking this page (Delicious and Stumbleupon) and telling your picker friends! If you find the content here valuable or worthless, please leave some feedback to make it better for the next picker who visits, thanks!

∴ jay toups ∴