So, someone asked about the CAGED system. I was bored and decided to write something up. I am not an expert in music theory so some of this may be a little off technically but it should all be close enough to get a good start and if something or someone contradicts me in your future readings on theory just keep in mind that I could be wrong.
THE CAGED SYSTEM:
The CAGED system is used in some form by many guitar instructors to teach an
overall understanding of the fretboard. The basic principle of the CAGED system
is that there are five movable patterns that can be easily memorized and applied
to any root to find the notes in any key. When you apply the concepts of
intervals and scale degrees to these patterns you can add to that any mode you
wish to play in, even the exotic ones.
The CAGED system as described applies to the standard tuning but you can use
the concepts in the CAGED system to memorize the fretboard in any tuning if you
so desire.
FIVE BASIC CHORD PATTERNS
There are five basic "open" chord patterns in guitar playing, the rest of the
chords for the guitar are based on these open patterns, although some of the
more exotic chords hardly look like the original pattern anymore.
Code:
C A G E D
o o oo o ooo o oo xoo
====== ====== ====== ====== ======
||||*| |||||| |||||| |||*|| ||||||
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
||*||| ||***| |*|||| |**||| |||*|*
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
**|||| |||||| *||||* |||||| ||||*|
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
|||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| ||||||
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
There are some alternative voicings for the above chords that create minor
variations in the patterns, but the above are one way to play all of the basic
five chords in guitar playing.
FIRST APPLICATION
Now you may wonder why this helps memorize the fretboard. These are five chords
and they are not even in the same key. To answer that, lets see what happens
when we put a cappo on the guitar at say, fret 3. If we play the open A chord
it of course is still a Major chord, but it isn't the A anymore is it; no, it is
the C chord. Now, instead of using a cappo, try just placing your index finger
across the whole fretboard at the base fret (in this case 3) and using your
other fingers to create the same chord pattern as before. This is called a
barre chord and you can do this with any of the above shapes (although some are
easier than others).
Still confused? That's ok. Let's apply the above concepts to create the CMajor
chord at all the various places on the guitar fretboard. The first is rather
obvious...
Code:
C
o o
======
||||*|
------
||*||| C FORM
------
**||||
------
||||||
------
We also already discussed how to play the first barre C at the third fret...
Code:
C
------
3******
------
||||||
------
||***| A FORM
------
||||||
------
||||||
------
To play CMajor at the 5th fret (where the last pattern ended) we use the G
form...
Code:
C
------
5||***|
------
||||||
------
|*|||| G FORM
------
*||||*
------
||||||
------
At the 8th we use the E form...
Code:
C
------
8*|||**
------
|||*||
------
|**||| E FORM
------
||||||
------
||||||
------
At the 10th fret we use the D form...
Code:
C
x
------
10|**|||
------
||||||
------
|||*|* D FORM
------
||||*|
------
||||||
------
Finally, at the 12th fret we use the C form again and the pattern continues up
the board (all patterns repeat after 12 because this is the octave)...
Code:
C
------
12|||*|*
------
||||*|
------
||*|||
------
**|||| C FORM
------
||||||
------
Did you notice the pattern? That is right, the chord patterns we used spelled
CAGED as we moved up the neck. Now you can play the C chord anywhere on the
neck using the five basic chord patterns you have learned in the open position
by using your index finger as a cappo to change the root of the chord.
SECOND APPLICATION
99% of all chords in western music are comprised of at least 3 notes. You will
find these notes in most of the chords you play. You may not play all three
notes but may instead leave some of the notes to a different instrument, but
most of the time these notes are played or implied. This makes these three
notes the most important notes to know as they are the foundation of all music.
These three notes are the "root" (R), "third" (3), and "fifth" (5) relative to
the root note.
You may think that third and fifth mean fret numbers but they do not. This is
where things get hairy in music theory for beginners. A fret is 1/2 of a "step"
above the fret before it (closer to the nut) and 1/2 step below the fret above
it (closer to the bridge). We will discuss more about this in a bit but for now
just keep in mind that a "Major third" (what we are concerned with now) is
actually 4 frets above the root and that a "Perfect fifth" is actually seven
frets above the root. Since there are more than one string, and most strings
are tuned a perfect fourth above the one below it, your 5th is actually one
string up in pitch and two frets up in pitch to make a total of 7 1/2 steps
(more on this later).
That may have confused the hell out of you and don't worry if you didn't get it.
At this moment it is not important, just keep thinking about it as you practice
this next application of the CAGED system.
This second application comes by memorizing where the "chord tones" (R35)are in
the basic chord patterns in the CAGED system. Once you are aware of this you
can play any chord using as few as three strings anywhere on the fretboard. The
following diagrams show these relations:
Code:
C A G E D
3 5 3 5R 5 5R3 R 5R x5R
====== ====== ====== ====== ======
||||R| |||||| |||||| |||3|| ||||||
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
||3||| ||5R3| |3|||| |5R||| 3||5|3
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
5R|||5 |||||| R|||5R |||||| ||||R|
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
|||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| ||||||
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
Once again, if you apply a cappo at the various places on the neck (so the
pattern begins where the last ended) you will see the R35 of the C chord all
over the neck. This is all the places these three notes appear on the fretboard
these are the most important notes to western music. These notes do most of the
coloring in the music. It is these notes that create the fundamental difference
between Major, Minor, Diminished, and Augmented; the four basic colors of chords
and scales (there are some few exceptions but keep in mind that the CAGED system
is not a replacement for an education in music theory but is just a method to
put that theory to application on the guitar).
THIRD APPLICATION
You are already done with the above? Have that all memorized already do you?
Great. Now you are ready for the next step: adding the rest of the scale tones.
First we need to understand what a scale tone is and where it comes from. In
western music theory there are seven notes contained in a key and these notes
are repeated in all octaves. This is known as a Diatonic scale, dia meaning
seven and tonic meaning tone. Most beginners have also heard of a "Pentatonic"
scale which is a five tone scale. Scales are constructed with intervals and the
different notes are called "degrees" that symbolize their placement in the
scale. Most people learn scales by the steps it takes to walk an octave in that
scale. The major scale is composed of seven steps: a whole step up from the
root; a whole step up from that note; a half step up from that note; etc. If we
use the letter 'W' to mean whole step and the letter 'H' to mean half step the
entire string of steps is WWHWWWH starting from the root and adding so many
steps after the note before. The C major scale is comprised then of these
notes:
Code:
C D E F G A B C
W W H W W W H
That is a great way to start. As you progress you will learn a scale in
relation to the intervals from the root note instead of having to climb a scale
to construct it. More on that in a moment...
Once you have constructed your scale you can see the "degrees" in it. The root
note, or first degree, is the name of your scale (in our case C) and the numbers
climb from that point:
Code:
R 2 3 4 5 6 7 R(8)
C D E F G A B C
In western music we also continue another octave to gain another set of degrees:
Code:
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
C D E F G A B C
Degrees and intervals go hand in hand and we will discuss this in a moment.
Most of the time, especially on guitar, we do not use the upper numbers in
association with notes that fall on a 3, 5, or 7. In other words you usually
don't run into an E as a 10 even when it is a 10th interval above the root but
instead we usually just refer to that note as a third wherever it falls.
So, the third application is to place these degrees (or intervals described in
a moment) into the original 5 chord patterns:
Code:
C A G E D
362573 5R4 25 625R36 R4 5R 25R462
====== ====== ====== ====== ======
4|||R4 |||7|| ||||4| ||73|| ||||||
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
|736|| 625R36 7362|7 25R462 362573
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
5R4|25 7||||| R4||5R 3||||| 4|||R|
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
|||7|| |36247 ||73|| |62573 |736|4
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
Remember that some of these degrees can be higher numbers. For instance, a 2 could also be a 9.
Now, those are not optimal fingerings for scales but at the open position that
is how the scale degrees lie for those five keys. If you move these patterns up
the fretboard as before you will see the entire scale laid out over the entire
board. The BEST way to memorize these notes (not necissarily the easiest, but
the best) is to memorize them in relation to the R note in the pattern. Done
in this manner the application of modes through the use of intervals becomes
much easier. Most CAGED books and teachers will show you the five fingering
patterns but my instructor used an approach more like this. Here are the five
basic patterns you will find in the CAGED system, I leave finding the degrees
in them as an excercize:
Code:
Key: C
oooooo
====== ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
*|||** |***|| |||*|| ****|* ||**|| 12******
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
|***|| 3***|** 5****** 8**||** 10****** *|||**
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
***|** |||*|| ||||*| ||**|| |||||| |***||
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
|||||| ****** ****|* ****** ****** ***|**
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
|||||| ||||*| **||** |||||| *|||** ||||||
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
These patterns are simply optimal placements of the fingers and they coincide
nicely with the chord patterns. In caged the above patterns are also named
the C pattern, A pattern, etc. It is important though to put these patterns
in perspective as a part of a whole. Memorize where the roots are in the chord
patterns and where the scale degrees are in relation to those roots. These
patterns then fall into place. A combination of all of this information,
practiced as a whole, will take you a long way toward being able to play in
any key, in any mode, without much thought to the patterns but more toward what
you want to create. In the author's oppinion, scale patterns are focused on too
much in most places and the more important information is lost in the process.
Do not just practice these patterns but also think about WHAT you are playing as
you practice them.
INTERVALS
Intervals are a pretty important part of music. I will describe them in brief
here but a better resource would be
http://www.musictheory.net where they are
described in much more detail. Here I am primarily concerned with intervals as
they apply to scale degrees and scale modes. Here is a table to help you:
Code:
Interval Degree notation Steps Half Steps
Root 1/R 0 0
Minor Second b2 .5 1
Major Second 2 1 2
Minor Third b3 1.5 3
Major Third 3 2 4
Perfect Fourth 4 2.5 5
Aug Fourth/Dim. Fifth #4/b5 3 6
Perfect Fifth 5 3.5 7
Minor Sixth b6 4 8
Major Sixth 6 4.5 9
Minor Seventh b7 5 10
Major Seventh 7 5.5 11
Octave 8/R 6 12
On the guitar the more important step count is the half step count. Roger E.
Blumberg does a great job of describing how to find intervals on the guitar.
You might want to check out his Cipher system to see if it can help you along
with the CAGED system. That system is spelled out at
http://www.thecipher.com
As you can see, intervals and degrees go hand in hand. Intervals are laid out
and associate directly with the degrees of the Major scale. If you have already
memorized how the degrees of a scale map out with the CAGED system you have also
memorized all of your intervals!
MODES
Most people spell out modes using degree notation with the Major scale as the
reference point. It is important to realize that any mode could be used as a
reference but that Major is chosen because of its relation with intervals. For
instance, one could say that the Major scale is 1, 2, #3, 4, 5, #6, #7, 8 with
the Minor scale as a reference but this is not done since it rather confuses
matters because saying #3 would imply an augmented 3rd interval and this is not
how it works.
Modes are either Major or Minor depending on the third degree of the scale. If
the third degree is minor then the mode is minor and has a "sad" feel to it; if
the third degree is major then the mode is major and has a "happy" feel to it.
Here are the minor modes:
Dorian:
1, 2, b3, 4, 5, 6, b7, 8
Aeolean (natual minor - when someone says minor scale this is the one they usually mean)
1, 2, b3, 4, 5, b6, b7, 8
Phrygian
1, b2, b3, 4, 5, b6, b7, 8
Locrian (locrian is also diminished and is as far from the major mode as a non-exotic mode gets)
1, b2, b3, 4, b5, b6, b7, 8
The major modes:
Ionian (The "Major" scale)
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Mixolydian
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, b7, 8
Lydian
1, 2, 3, #4, 5, 6, 7, 8
These modes all fit into the major scale but start at different points in the
sequence. For instance, C major has the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B and G major
has the notes G, A, B, C, D, E, F#. If you minor (or flat) the 7th of the G
major scale you will be in G mixolydian and this mode contains the same notes
as the C major scale.
How do you apply the CAGED system to this? Let's have a look at one of the
patterns in the CAGED system, the C chord.
Code:
C
362573
======
4|||R4
------
|736|| C FORM
------
5R4|25
------
|||7||
------
Remember? Now, lets say you want to play in C Lydian; to do this you sharpen
every 4th interval like so:
Code:
C Lydian
362573
======
||||R|
------
4736|4 C FORM
------
5R||25
------
||47||
------
How easy is that? If you have your degrees and intervals memorized within the
CAGED system it is very easy. Being so armed you can play in any key, any mode,
any position so long as you know how the mode functions. You can even do so
with modes that don't exactly fit like the
Harmonic Minor (common in metal
music):
Harmonic Minor: 1, 2, b3, 4, 5, b6, 7, 8 (notice this in aeolian with a #7)
Code:
C Harmonic Minor
257
======
4|36R4
------
|7|||| C FORM
------
5R4|25
------
6||73|
------
CHORDS
You can also now construct any chord you desire. Armed with CAGED and a
memory of where your scale degrees are you can construct a chord anywhere on
the fretboard given an understanding of the spelling. For instance, say you see
some chord named something like Cm9. How to read that is outside the scope of
this lesson but for now just know that this chord has a 1, b3, 5, b7, and a 9
in it. All you need to do is find those degrees somewhere on the fretboard,
keeping in mind that a 9 is just a 2 one octave up (though with chord inversions
this distinction between 9 and 2 becomes rather hazy), and put your fingers in
those frets. Here is an example using the open position:
Code:
C
362573
======
4|||R4
------
|736|| C FORM
------
5R4|25
------
|||7||
------
Cm9
======
||3|||
------
|||||| C FORM
------
|R|795
------
||||||
------
Note that the 5th in the above chord is one octave up from where it technically should be and so is really a 12th but especially with guitar we
skirt this and still refer to it as a 5th.
WHERE TO NEXT?
Continue your education in music theory and apply it with the CAGED system. For
instance, you know where the C chord is everywhere on the neck, but where are
the rest of the chords in the key of C major? They are there, in these
patterns, you just need to find them. Use the CAGED system, find the root
positions, and apply the appropriate mode...or better, memorize how to construct
your chords in the key and mode you are working in: for instance, you play the
chord of D in the key of C with the degrees of 2, 4, 6 from the C scale. How
do these degrees relate to the 1, 3, 5 of the D major scale?
Linear Mode
