Blues Licks, Blues Guitar Lessons

This article is not specifically about the blues guitar or blues licks, but if you want to be any kind of accomplished guitarist you need to know this! So pay attention, folks, and learn this well.  Print it out, hang it on the wall and do the practice exercises everyday until you see the thing in your dreams. If you do you will find yourself getting around on the guitar like never before. If you don’t, well you just won’t.

We take a long flat hunk of wood, hammer some pieces of metal into it, stretch 6 wires across it, and spend the rest of our lives trying to figure the darn thing out. How can something so simple be so complicated?

The guitar is a complicated instrument, and it’s very difficult to master. It’s hard to see all the notes, and most things can be played on the guitar in many ways. And I don’t mean different chord voicings or melodic ideas, I mean the exact same notes.

But if you look closer there is a way to simplify things. All you need to know are these basic chord shapes:

Each of these chord shapes is the basis for a basic chord form (or shape), and each of these basic chord forms can be moved up the fingerboard to play any major chord. For example, when you play the E shape on the 3rd fret (your basic barre chord) you are playing a G major chord. It can be thought of as the E form of the G major chord. In other words, it is shaped like an open E chord.

Each of these chord forms can be found somewhere on the fingerboard with any of the 12 notes as the root. And if you look closely you will notice a few things:

• When the root note is the same (for example, all C chords) for all the chord forms, the shapes lay out on the fretboard in this order: C-A-G-E-D. Of course, the lowest (closest to the nut) form varies. For example, the lowest form of the F major chord is the E form, and the lowest form of the G major chord is the G Form. The shapes then continue up the fretboard from there in the CAGED order. Note that the D form is followed by, and connected to, the C form.
• There are notes common to consecutive chord forms.
• The full pattern (all 5 forms) covers an entire octave and then starts over. (Notice in the chart below that the D form connects to the C form).

C A G E D Guitar Patterns in C Major

C A G E D Guitar Patterns in G Major

Notice that the G form in the chart above can also be played at the 1st position. It’s the basic open G chord.

This way of understanding the fingerboard has come to be known as CAGED theory. The great thing about CAGED theory is that everything we do as guitarists can be seen in the CAGED framework. After you can see the big shapes it is easier to understand how the scales are arranged in all the patterns. And chords are specific notes that we pick out of the scales.

CAGED theory is the framework upon which all of the scale patterns, arpeggios, and positions on this website are based. It is very important that you see the guitar fingerboard in this way.

Video Guitar Lesson

How To Master CAGED Guitar

Step 1

Play all the chord forms of the C major chord up the fingerboard. Some of them aren’t the most practical way to play a chord, but remember that the purpose of this exercise is to see the shapes and how they lay out on the fingerboard. Be sure to pay attention to how the patterns are connected, and that you know the location of the root notes in each pattern.

In order to do this you will need to know the notes on the E and A strings pretty well. If you need help with that take a look at this: Learn The Guitar Notes.

Step 2

Once you can do step 1 easily, play each of the forms in order (C-A-G-E-D) in every key (around the circle of 4ths) beginning with the C form. You will have to shift down the fingerboard for most keys.

Step 3

Play the pattern around the circle of 4ths beginning with the lowest chord form available on the fingerboard. All 12 major chords can be played in the 1st or 2nd position in one of the chord forms.

Step 4

Choose a 5 fret area anywhere on the fingerboard. Limiting yourself to that area, play all 12 major chords around the circle of 4ths.

Eventually you will be able to see how everything you play fits into the CAGED guitar system, and you will be able to navigate all areas of the fretboard easier than ever before.