CAGED Unleashed

[MikeS]

This has been moved from "CAGED Theory" thread.

What is the train of thought to lock on to the closest form of the next chord I want to play? Is it to go to the nearest root note of that chord and grab the left or right facing version? If so, I have a way to go because I still need to think about which fret is which note.

See you down the road!

Do you have the course or the free videos? Because it's explained there.
Basically you Note your third finger, then play the next chord in the CAGED sequence using that as your first finger.
E.G.
Open C has your 3rd finger on the 5th string 3rd fret,
for the A shape you would move your 1st finger to that position and your 3rd finger on the 4th string 5th fret (actually you barre 4th,3rd and 2nd strings).
Now move your 1st finger to 4th string 5th fret and you have the 1st position of the G shaped chord...
and so on always moving your 1st finger to where 3rd third finger was.

 

[HotLks]

Thanks Mike! I'm must be getting ahead of myself - asking questions before I get to where they are being addressed I'm sure. I'm thinking down the road while playing a song or comping and thinking quickly to the next chord, not necessarily in the CAGED order. I'll wait till I get to the place in the course where I hope it will become clear. If not, I'll ask again.

Thanks again!

See you down the road!

 

[Griff]

I've got a question for @Griff
I'm just starting out in CAGED Unleashed (CU) I've been through the first three videos and in them (and on page 2 of the manual), you say to stop and learn this at 60 BPM before moving on.
So are we talking the entire Circle of 5ths at 60 BPM or just the C shape?
I can play the C Shape up and down at 60 BPM (Not cleanly, but you say that clean isn't important right now), but if we are talking about the entire Circle of 5ths (12 chords) it's gonna be a while.
I'm sure that it will get easier as my fingers become used to that dang D shaped chord, but ti will still be a while. Not complaining, just want to understand and adjust my expectations.

By the way... I just figured out that you can use the @ to tag a person if you want them to see a particular post. Pretty cool... If it works. Hey @Chuck Did you know about this?

I think in the video I said just get the C down before you move on... but don't stop practicing it after you move on.

In all seriousness... being able to do that really made a difference for me and has done the same for many other students over the years. It might take a few weeks or months to nail it, but it's worth it.

 

[HotLks]

A word of encouragement to any having difficulty with this. Like with so many other things, after you get the CAGED changes down starting with C in the C shape, the other ones are easier. It seems to get easier as you move through the Circle of 5th's. Still struggling with that pesky D shape though. On the simplest level it's all repetition.

See you down the road!

 

[JN99]

I like to make flashcards, it's a leftover from my college days (that was a long time ago!). I try to condense information in just one visual card for future reference. Once in a while I go through my cards and pick something to practice. I have cards on little chords, the Crosscut saw riff, etc....

Making the card is how I learn, I can't make the card if I don;t understand the information to keep and the info that doesn't need to be on the card. The CAGED concept is not new to me, I had never made cards for it though, and I liked Griff's "simplified" version of the chords, I had always tried to make the full open chord pattern in addition to the barre, and as Griff points out, it's a b****, so I decide to make a card with the simplified chords.

So here is my card for the major chord shapes, I think I got it right although I regularly find mistakes as I work through my cards.

Very cool, always helpful to have visual aids like these Technically on the A shape the bar should only extend to the A string. Otherwise you end up with a slash chord, e.g. A#/F if played at the first fret.

 

[kestrou]

OK guys... I'm not quite drinking the Kool-Aid on CAGED yet - because I've heard so much negative about it over the years and because, at this point I loves my blues boxes!

I'm open for arm twisting on: just how, exactly, is this better than the blues boxes that are already in my head?!

Kevin

 

[Norfolk Bill]

dont think of it as being genre based, it will help you be a better guitar player

 

[HotLks]

Kevin -

I, like you was satisfied with the 5 boxes and didn't see a need for CAGED understanding. It's not better than or a substitute for the 5 boxes.

From the Introduction to "CAGED Unleashed":

"CAGED doesn’t replace the things you already know, but will reinforce those things on a new framework. CAGED doesn’t bring any music to the table specifically, but instead allows you to see music and your guitar in a whole new way."

Griff's email introducing CAGED has most, if not all of the Introduction in it. I think the CAGED hub page has the whole introduction in it. At this early stage I finding that it is already easier to see the fret board as a integrated whole. I used to view it as 6 separate strings and a number of boxes. Now I'm beginning to view the it as a whole and it is making more sense to me than ever before.

So, it's not better than the Blues boxes. Correctly presented and explained as Griff does it allows a greater mastery of the "system" of the guitar neck.

Every time I looked at the CAGED system, it left me cold. I'd give it about 5 - 10 minutes of my attention and then leave it. No one ever communicated to me what it is, how it works and how to use it. Griff has done a superb job of presenting it and now I have changed my view of it. I see the value of it now. I look forward to learning it and having it help me to do what I want to do on the guitar. I'm already beginning to be able to move more freely across the fret board.

No, I will not be receiving a check in the mail for this review.

See you down the road!

 

[TwoNotesSolo]

Technically on the A shape the bar should only extend to the A string. Otherwise you end up with a slash chord, e.g. A#/F if played at the first fret.

I don't follow? I know that lots of people say you shouldn't play the bottom string, and it's marked under the diagram as one of the alternate fingering (X on the low E string)
By extending the barre to the E string you make the same note as the one on the high E string, and that note is part of the chord too (F, or E# as some prefer to think of it) is the 5th, so what's so bad about that?
Not every voicing had to have the root as the bass note

 

[david moon]

I don't follow? I know that lots of people say you shouldn't play the bottom string, and it's marked under the diagram as one of the alternate fingering (X on the low E string)
By extending the barre to the E string you make the same note as the one on the high E string, and that note is part of the chord too (F, or E# as some prefer to think of it) is the 5th, so what's so bad about that?
Not every voicing had to have the root as the bass note

Yes , in the A form the 6th string is a chord tone (the V). When strumming the full chord, it is usually felt that including the 6th string "muddys" the sound. When fingerpicking, it can be included in an alternating bass, but would sound as a separate note, not in a chord.

There's also a reason not to play the 6th string based on the physics of sound. The overtones (harmonics) of the 5th string root are all notes of the chord and are consonant. The higher overtones of the 6th string are dissonant with the chord tones.

If you know how to play harmonics at the 12th, 7th, 5th, and 4th frets, try it and you will see.

 

[david moon]

The same rationale applies to the 6th string of the C form, and the 5th string of the D form. Those shapes also put the V of the chord lower than the root.

 

[MikeS]

Thanks Griff. Up till now CAGED seemed simply to be a way to see other chord voicings, most of which I already use. I'm eager to see how it can open up the fret board for me in future lessons.

 

[JN99]

I don't follow? I know that lots of people say you shouldn't play the bottom string, and it's marked under the diagram as one of the alternate fingering (X on the low E string)
By extending the barre to the E string you make the same note as the one on the high E string, and that note is part of the chord too (F, or E# as some prefer to think of it) is the 5th, so what's so bad about that?
Not every voicing had to have the root as the bass note

Nothing bad, I didnt say it was bad . When you do that you are playing an inversion or slash chord, in this case the F as the lowest note being the 5th makes it a second inversion. The standard A shape bar chord omits that note, the E sting is typically not played or muted. Same is true for the C shape.

 

[sdbrit68]

I kinda like this flash card Idea

 

[benjwri1707]

Aligning the boxes with the CAGED system is the tricky part. The C Maj shape chord is in box 4, the A Maj shape chord is in box 5, and the G Maj shape chord is in box 1 etc. The CAGED system is about chord 'shapes' as you work up the fretboard.

 

[david moon]

The CAGED system is usually presented with major chords, most of them have barre chord versions. It works as well with minor chords, Cm and Gm might not have a easy barre form, but the connections between the chords using the root work the same way. The minor pentatonic boxes also fall under the chords.

For a I IV V progression, you could use (in any key)

E shape, A shape, A shape 2 frets up
C shape F shape (actually the E shape) E shape 2 frets up,
or C shape, F shape, and G shape with the root on the 6th string same fret as the root on the 5th

 

[BignJames]

F shape?

 

[HotLks]

When I read F shape, this is what I think of:



It's mostly an E shape.

See you down the road!

 

[Norfolk Bill]

read the post properly

 

[BignJames]

Where does "F shape" fit in CAGED?