The CAGED system: C major in five shapes

One chord, C major, played up the neck in the five shapes of the CAGED system: the open C shape, then the A, G, E and D shapes, each arpeggiated up and back, before an E-shape barre and the open C to close. Every major chord has these five shapes and they join in the same order for any key, so this one exercise is a map of where any chord can be played.

C major in five CAGED shapes: 6 bars of 4/4 in E standard, written at 100 bpm.

The strum: an arrow down or up for each strum, a cross for a muted one, a dot for a single note, and a faint arrow where the hand keeps moving without touching the strings.

Practise it at 60 bpm

Opens in the player looped and counted in, with drums playing along, and speeds up 5 % every 2 loops to 100 bpm. No account or microphone needed.

Goal tempo: 100 bpm
Starts at: 60 bpm
Length: 6 bars, looped
Tuning: E standard
Time: 4/4
Level: Advanced
Plays with: Drums

How to play it

Hold each whole shape down before you start it; the root C is in every one, so find it first.

The open chords C, A, G, E and D are shapes that can be moved up the neck with a barre or a finger in place of the nut. Played on the same chord, they follow each other up the neck in the order C-A-G-E-D, each sharing notes with the next.

For C major: the open C shape; the A shape at the 3rd fret (the barred A chord shape with its root on the A string); the G shape from the 5th to the 8th; the E shape barred at the 8th; the D shape at the 10th. Each bar arpeggiates one shape up and back in eighths. The last bar strums the E-shape barre and the open C.

Before each bar, hold the whole shape down. The G shape is the hardest to finger; play only its notes one at a time, as here, rather than as a full chord.

Mistakes to watch for

Not finding the root in each shape: the C is always there, on one or two strings, and it's what connects the shapes.
Learning the frets without seeing the open chord each shape comes from.
Letting arpeggiated notes stop as soon as the next one sounds; let the shape ring.

A speed plan

The player starts at 60 % of the goal and plays each tempo twice before stepping up:

That's 16 loops and about 5 minutes before you're playing at 100 bpm. If it stops being clean on the way, stop the ramp there and loop that tempo until it is. With a microphone or an audio interface you can record while you play instead: Demiurg checks every loop and steps up only after two clean ones in a row, and back down after a poor one. Strums are checked for when they land, not for which strings rang.

Questions

How fast should I play C major in five CAGED shapes?

The goal is 100 bpm in eighth notes, which is 3.3 notes a second. Start wherever every note is clean: the player begins at 60 bpm. Signed in, you can set a goal of your own, slower or faster, on the Exercises page.

Does CAGED work in every key?

Yes. The order is always C-A-G-E-D going up the neck, only the starting point moves. For G major, the E shape is at the 3rd fret and the order carries on from there: D shape, then C, A and G.

Is CAGED the same as the five pentatonic boxes?

They're closely linked: each pentatonic box sits around one of the CAGED shapes. Learning both shows how chords and scales sit together on the neck.

More fundamentals exercises

All 22 fundamentals exercises · Fretboard notes trainer · Scales on the neck · All 107 exercises