The 5 Shapes On The Fretboard (that's it... there's no more...)
In case you missed the previous video, or you want to go back and try building other chords from these shapes now, the previous video is here.
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Except that within the five CAGED shapes lie the 20 major and 20 minor triads (not including the dominant 7 triad shapes).
These are easy to find by breaking down the CAGED chords by string sets (1st 2nd, 3rd; 2nd 3rd 4th; etc)
For me, that is where the real usefulness of the CAGED system lies. In real life for rhythm comping the sets on the 2nd 3rd 4th and 3rd 4th 5th strings will give you all the “little cords” you will ever need in a band context.
It is the one thing not made explicit in Griff’s CAGED course which I took a few years ago, but maybe he has added that to the course (or maybe I am not remembering it correctly).
What Griff has presented here is very powerful. And he is absolutely correct. Take the time with this.
Once you have this down, you have a surprise on your way.
I’m good at traveling chords and was beginning to freak out as I nailed the same chord (?) in several different positions, E A . -This session hit me broadside, definitely a new road worth traveling; Premium Griff!
Good, but I instruct students to focus/know/associate where the root notes are in each shape, and how they functionally link the shapes. Root notes are common in adjacent shapes.
And that G shape is good, but add the treble version, top 4 strings – folkies know it as “the long A” position. More melodic (and immediately) useful. Further illustrates the common root note business.
I am a beginner playing a guitar
I followed the 5 caged shapes but didn’t notice where they reduce to only 2. Can you summarize or post the timestamp in the video where that’s covered
Brilliant. So well explained. Thank you Griff.
Griff
You do a very good job making th complex understandable and compellingly interesting. Thank you! But I am a bit puzzled by the 5 chord shapes for caged. C, A, G,E, and D.
You don’t quite say it but is there a shape for each of the 5 strings, one shape with the root on that string, which then can be played up the 12 frets to do all 12 h with the half0-tone chords in that form with the root found on that string?
That would yield 5 forms for each chord and enable every time that note is a root to be played in a CAGED fingering. That is what I hear in the suggested exercise: all the C chord fingerings with their different voicing. Sounds Great!
But it seems that you play the fingering form for the C chord (root on 2nd string and for the D chord root on the 2nd string, and use two fingerings for the G chord root on the 6th string Iopen and barred—and playing the barred form in two halves, upper and lower parts of the barred fingering. That works great, too.
ut what about chord forms with the root on the 4the or 3rd strings. This is where octaves of the root on the sixth and fifth string appear. Do these repeats count as part of the fingering for CAGED forms for roots on those strings even though te fingering forms are also repeats. In which case there are only 3 CAGE fingerings, not 5 and the voicing of the chord versions would not be as diverse.
I think I get the big picture and begin to see overlaps and a grand reorganization of how one looks at and understands the fretboard, but the devil is in the details.
John