CAGED System

[griehund]

So anyway, I searched for posts a while back about the caged system but to no avail. Just thought I would share recent email from Griff Hamlin re CAGED. If the first link doesn't work.
http://bluesguitarunleashed.com/blues-and-caged/?Id=551684&Email=griehund@comcast.net#
There's another simpler definition with diagrams.
http://www.fundamental-changes.com/what-is-the-caged-system-and-why-do-we-use-it/

 

[jte]

CAGED is a huge concept. Howard Roberts did a great job of introducing and explaining it in his Guitar Player Magazine column way back in the late '70s and early '80s. The key point is that it is NOTsimply a way to visualize the five chord shapes. It's the way to hang all your fretboard visualization on the neck. The routine I used for my students was this-

A. Play the chord shape
B. Play the major scale for that shape, starting at the lowest available not (not necessarily the root!) to the highest note in that position and descend (of course singing the note BEFORE you play it- this is music, not merely a mechanical manipulation), naming the scale degree. So for the C shape in C, you'd be singing "3 4 5 6 7 1", etc.)
C. Play the arpeggio of that chord, again starting at the lowest available note to the highest one, and again singing the scale degree- for that C shape in C, it would be "E G C E G C E G" and back down.
D. Repeat step B
E. Repeat step A
F. Move to the next shape (in this example then you move to the A shape in the key of C).

This accomplishes the vital role of NOT playing scales without seeing the overlay of the chord, and it focuses you on the chord tones, not just running the scale.

John