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A Beginner's Guide to CAGED Chords

A Beginner's Guide to CAGED Chords
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Lindsay Ell
By Lindsay EllAug 03, 2019
Lindsay Ell

Named one of The Huffington Post’s “Top Country Artists to Watch,” Lindsay Ell is a triple threat: accomplished musician, unique vocalist, and songwriter. The Calgary native learned to play guitar while traveling with her father to bluegrass camps as a young girl. Ell’s first full-length album The Project debuted at No. 1 on the Country Album Sales Chart and was recently lauded as Billboard’s Best Country Album of 2017. For more information, visit lindsayell.com.

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Learn a sure-fire way to map out every major or minor chord in any key.
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We all know the CAGED system is a great way of learning the fretboard, but are we truly applying that knowledge in a musical way? This lesson will help you do exactly that, by explaining the CAGED system and then putting it to use in real-world chord progressions. This will allow you to better accompany another guitarist, create cool-sounding overdubs, and eventually play riffs, lines, and arpeggios all over the neck. Dig in and learn to fly!

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Beyond Blues: Bridging the Gap Between Chords and Arpeggios

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Originally published on March 15, 2015

The CAGED system is a subject we’ve explored many times before in Beyond Blues, and as you may know, it plays a big role in the way I teach. If you need a quick refresher, or if you’re totally new to the CAGED concept, read “A Guitarist’s Guide to the CAGED System." This CAGED approach doesn’t often generate resistance, but when it does, I usually find that it’s because of a misunderstanding of the system—there’s a lot more to it than just barre chords. While we’ve discussed arpeggios and scale fingerings several times over the years, this lesson will finally bridge the gap between those two.

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Do you feel confined within the same scale shapes or set of frets every time you go to rip a solo? If so, this lesson is for you. Or, if you're confident in your ability to move both horizontally and vertically around the fretboard, this lesson might help you to see the fretboard even better.

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What the Ell? How to Make the Most of 4 Chords

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Chops: Beginner
Theory: Beginner
Lesson Overview:
• Learn the fundamentals of the CAGED system.
• Spice up your chords with colorful notes.
• Understand how to move chord shapes along the neck.

One of the things that made me fall in love with the guitar is how it gave me the ability to play chord shapes up and down the neck. Think about this: You could be playing a simple progression with a friend, and although you're playing the same four chords, by using different voicings, you can make the song sound so full. How does that work? In this lesson, I want to answer that question and show you a few ways to bring the most out of your chord progressions.

Capo-Free Chords
Let's get some theory out of the way first. You might have heard of the CAGED system before. [Editor's note: If you want an in-depth lesson on the CAGED system, check out our eBook here.] This rather simple system is based off the open-chord shapes we all started with. It has expanded the way I think about guitar and helped me discover new, creative ways to approach songwriting.

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The Envelope, Please!

The Envelope, Please!
Chops: Intermediate/Advanced
Theory: Intermediate/Advanced
Lesson Overview:
• Understand how to use the blues scale to target notes in a 12-bar progression.
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• Cop some techniques made popular by Slash, Joe Satriani, and Allan Holdsworth.
Click here to download a printable PDF of this lesson's notation.

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