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Fretboard Knowledge 3: The CAGED System

Updated: Aug 15, 2018

Now you can start seeing some pattern with octaves, I’d like to introduce you to the CAGED system. This is another way of building a roadmap across the fretboard based off the basic open chord shapes:

These are essentially all the shapes you need to successfully navigate the fretboard, so how do we use them?

Well lets pretend that the nut of the guitar is actually a fret, lets move the C chord up a semi-tone so that open notes are now located on the 1st fret:

It still has the shape of a C chord but now it is actually a C# or Db major chord. This is because the lowest note of the chord ( C ) has moved up a semi-tone (C#/Db).

Lets move all the CAGED shapes up a semi-tone:

Now lets look at the pattern shapes:

To make these shape workable for different keys, we need to know where the ROOT note is located within each shape. The root is where the chord gets its name from. For example to play an Gmaj chord the note ‘G’ would be the ROOT, similarly to play an Dmin chord the ROOT will be ‘D’.:

Although technically these are Triads, as in they only consist of three unique notes, the CAGED chord shapes produce a full and rich sound because the triad notes are duplicated throughout each shape. If locate where the ROOT repeats itself we can start to see those octave patterns we were talking about.

You can now pick a note on the fretboard and build the CAGED shapes around it. Check out the exercises below to help you memorise the shapes and also the order of the shapes as they move up and down the neck:

Ex1. Seeing how the shapes cycle:

Ex2. Seeing how the shapes cycle using I IV V IV chord progression:

CAGED Minor Chords

Lets have a look at the CAGED shapes again but now from a minor chord perspective:

Notice how similar the relative major and minor shapes are? Actually only one note moves down a semitone from the major to minor shape (This is the 3rd we were talking about in the Basic Music Theory 3: Chords):

Major Shapes:

Minor Shapes:

You may find the G shape tends to be quite tricky, but try leaving the 'High E’ string out and play these alternative shapes:

Major:

Minor:

Just be aware of where the chord tones are within the pattern as this will come in handy when we cover scales.

Knowing where the 3rd is located is useful and digesting and memorising the shapes. Here are some exercises to show you these shapes moving around the fretboard:

Dmaj:

Gmaj:

Cmin:

Amin:

If you can understand the concept of the major third moving down a semitone to a minor third then you only really have five shapes to learn.

Now lets try making some music using these shapes, on the following pages are two etudes covering all shapes in major and minor across the fretboard. Play them both through slowly. Once you have the hang of it why not try mixing up the chords and making your own etude. Who knows...you might surprise yourself:

I hope you have found this useful, let me know in the comment section.

Taken from my book series 'Six String Enigma'

Fretboard Knowledge 2: Octaves & looking for patterns

Updated: Aug 15, 2018

Now you understand how the tuning of the guitar effects chord shapes lets take it a step further. We will learn how to look for the patterns, keeping in mind that the B string affects the "symmetry" of the shapes and patterns.

Lets start with finding the note G in all locations on the fretboard:

Lets break it down into smaller chunks, boxes or patterns if you will. Also notice the fret spaces and string gaps between the pattern shapes.

Shape 1:

Shape 2:

Shape 3:

Shape 4:

Shape 5:

Shape 6:

Shape 7:

*Note: the patterns repeat themselves after the 12th fret

Notice how shape 1 & 4 look the same:

Notice how shape 2 & 5 also look the same:

Notice how shape 3 & 7 also look the same:

*shapes 2 & 5 would look the same as 1 & 4 if it wasn’t for the tuning discrepancy between the G & B string mentioned in the previous section*

There are really only 4 unique shapes:

Shape 1:

Shape 2:

Shape 3:

Shape 4:

You can use this method to find all the locations of a single note across the fretboard. Think of it as a fretboard roadmap. Try out the exercises below:

Can you see the patterns?

I recommend learning the notes on all strings, however learning all the natural notes along the Low E and A strings and then using the shapes to find out where they are located on the rest of the strings would be a good start. By memorising the notes on the Low E you have also memorised the high E string.):

And if you memorise notes on the A string, thats three strings, you're halfway there:

The enharmonic notes (the black keys on a piano (#/b)) are in the spaces and if you want to find for example, the note ‘Gb’, it will be before the note G and after the note F:

Good luck! I hope you have found this useful. Let me know in the comments.

Taken from my book series 'Six String Enigma'

Fretboard Knowledge 1: Guitar Tuning

Updated: Aug 15, 2018

If we look at a guitar fretboard we can see the notes are laid quite differently when compared to a piano:

The notes on a piano are presented to us in a more logic manner. Starting from the first note on the right side, the notes are in order and increase in pitch as we move from left to right.

This is only true to guitar if we were to play a single string and move along the fretboard in a linear fashion:

However due to the ergonomics of guitar and since we only have one hand to play notes with, a tuning method must be implemented in order for us to play both chords and scales with ease. The guitar is tuned from the low to high string - E A D G B E. The strings are tuned in fifths, meaning that if we have our first low E string and count up five semitones we will arrive at A:

If we count up five semitones from A we arrive at D:

From D to G is also five semitones:

But G to B string:

Wait...thats not a B?

If we were to follow the rule that each string is to be tuned a fifth above the previous the B string would actually be tuned to C and the final string would be F. The problem with this is that it would be difficult to play full chords that use all six strings, particularly useful if there is no other instrument within the band to play chords. So instead of five semitones from G our ancestors decided that it should be four. The last string however follows our original pattern and is five semitones away from B:

Cool. But why do I need to know that?

An understanding of how the guitar is tuned is very useful when learning scale patterns and shapes. If the strings were all tuned five semitones apart the scales would look symmetrical, but as we have this discrepancy between the G and B string, the shapes look asymmetrical. Once you understand this you can adjust the way you perceive scale and even chords shape and know that when you get to the B string you just move the pattern up or down a semitone.

I hope you have found this useful, let me know in the comments.

Taken from my book series 'Six String Enigma'