C A G E D

[Richard O'connor]

Hi everyone
I’ve just been going over the caged system again and I understand how it works and how it links the fretboard together, but what I don’t really get and maybe I’m being really dumb here, is the point of it? Is it literally just different ways to play chords? How do I use it in my playing?

 

[idssdi]

As far as my knowledge of the caged system goes you can also use it for scales and do the same scales in a lot of different positions. It also makes chord changes a bit easier

 

[Andrew Milner]

As Ids said, the CAGED system goes beyond just chord forms. I mean yeah, that’s the basic idea of it, but when you start linking chords with arpeggios and scales, as Papa Gates does, it really becomes very very useful. At least for me it was a real eye opener.

 

[Jak Angelescu]

Along with knowing chord positions and arpeggio positions, I like to think of it as helping with fretboard memorization. If you look at guitarists and all those crazy-time buildups they do that go up the neck, I have found that the Caged system helps me a lot with that. You also start to recognize patterns and I’ve been able to come up with little licks that sound really unique and cool because of it. I think it helps tie into Theory as well. Also, an open c chord doesn’t sound the same as a double barre on the 3rd fret. I think it will help come up with different sounds and feels for a song you might be trying to do. John Mayer is big on using this