Comments on: CAGED Technique Lesson 1

By: admin

admin — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:44:32 +0000

Andrew … be careful not to confuse position with form. Think of “form” as the pattern and “position” is where you play that form (pattern). The point here is to be able to visualise chord forms so that you can find the chord tones of a chord sequence with minimal movement across the fretboard.

There is no A minor in this example, the chords are A major, F# minor, D major and E major (a common chord progression) using the various caged forms to keep them grouped in close proximity to each other. Does that make sense?

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:24:57 +0000

I’m a bit confused about the f# minor chord in the d minor position. If A major is in the E major position then it seems that by the caged method, the d minor position should be higher on the fretboard, and it seems as if it should start on the seventh fret of the D string if we use consistency from the previous lessons. Now, I can see that that the f# chord you provided is in fact an f# and it is using the d minor pattern, but it doesn’t seem to be in the d minor position in relation to the E major position for the A major chord. It’s a bit confusing because if we follow the pattern, A minor should be in the D minor position, so where am I going wrong?

By: Jerry Hatfield

Jerry Hatfield — Sat, 28 May 2011 21:03:12 +0000

What pink notes?

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 01:01:46 +0000

sorry, not to confuse, haha. you place your finger on each dot, the pink dots also represent that you are on a root note***

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 01:00:33 +0000

The white notes represent where you position your fingers. The pink notes are the root notes, for example if you look at chord a; check out the 5th fret of the 6th string(the low e) then notice the 7th fret of the 4th string(the a) and then check out the 5th fret of the 1st string(the high e) each note is highlighted in pink because they are each the “a” note, hence the root# of the Achord position.

The pink square represents the starting root note of the chord.

By: Confused

Confused — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 06:04:00 +0000

Where is the G form?

By: Confused

Confused — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 05:57:18 +0000

What are the white dots for?
Do I put my fingers down for the square dots?
this is more confusing than ever.

By: admin

admin — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 00:06:22 +0000

@Mike

The idea is to learn all the notes in each chord everywhere on the fretboard. That’s the ultimate goal but it takes time. It’s good to learn the note names as well as the intervals. Start small and learn them one step at a time, preferrably over a backing track otherwise it gets boring and pointless if you can’t hear how it sounds.

Once you get well aquainted with those notes, start incorporating them into your normal scale playing. Try landing on any of the chord tones each time the chord changes. Over time, your soloing will start sounding better and work well with the underlying chord changes.

The pink notes are all root notes, the square one is just the starting root, it’s just how I made the diagrams, they could have all been just pink or all square.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 02:30:19 +0000

So what’s the best way to start practicing? Should I start with the TABs above and figure out what each note is as I play? Should I start with those forms above and figure out where those chords are?

Also, what’s the significance of the squares and pink circles? Is the square the root note?

thanks,
Mike

By: admin

admin — Fri, 14 May 2010 15:06:02 +0000

Hi ben
You should absolutely learn the notes. The chord forms are just as important but ideally you should know where the root notes are in every chord form and use them as your guide to finding your way around the fretboard. Once you can do this you will see the power of the CAGED system and your guitar playing will improve dramatically.