Active Melody

Learn to play blues guitar.

All chords and scales are never more than 1 fret away! The CAGED System Guitar Lesson – EP552

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In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to anchor all scales, arpeggios, and chords in all 12 keys to a single fret. You’ll learn how to pick any fret at random and play anything you want from that fret!

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Comments

  1. Brian says

    Ok, 2 mistakes in this video.
    1) at 3:17 I accidentally skipped F# – I called it G, and got the G a G# – sorry about that!
    2) at 10:48 I forgot to put up the minor scale chart on screen (showed major instead)

    • Allan J says

      Hi Brian.

      I don’t comment on here but this latest lesson and .pdf deserves one. Many ‘light bulb’ moments for me.
      Thanks for the lessons and I look forward to them every Friday night here in Wales. I also enjoy delving into your archives and expanding my knowledge. Although I’m able to hold an audience with singing Country/Folk and backing with my guitar your course has moved me into lead guitar and Blues.
      Thank you and keep up the good work.

      Regards Allan.

    • Donald F says

      Hi Brian, this lesson is just amazing. I’m sitting here with my mind racing in all directions. I’m a bedroom player; I’ve never played with other people. I’m hopeful when I do play with others I will have something to offer. I look at this lesson and see so may possibilities. Please don’t misunderstand I feel all your lessons are great but this one hit home with me. Thank you

    • Marion H says

      Well Brian, I became a member just before you put out your 500th video. I’ve followed rather intently since and can honestly say I did catch the F#/G blip, I even replayed about three times because I thought I mis understood something…. So , 60-70 videos over several years and hours off learning from you through your channel? think we can let that slide. The other 99.97% is rather awesome. You have the sort of teaching style that connects with my minds eye of what I want to see, but naive as to what I’m looking for. You connect those missing links so well for this guy, that is finally, after 30 years of on/off teaching myself guitar, you’ve finally got me moving consistently forward. Thanks for all you contribute to the world of music and us unconventional learners.

    • Adam B says

      Ok 2 mistakes.
      1 You’re only human
      2 l managed to pick up on those mistakes before I read your comment which tells me, yay I’m learning.
      I’ve been following you for two years, I have a guitar teacher as well who is brilliant.
      This is exactly where I’m up to.
      This morning I practised a chord progression, GDCD and after I played the cord in the closest cage shape I would play a little melody from that shape, example, interval 3451. It’s teaching me cage shapes, arpeggios and intervals. Love your work Brian.
      Figgie say,… Don’t be too hard on yourself because you’re one of the best teachers out there. fig.buick@intergram

    • Ken D says

      Brian, I’ve been an Active Melody member for several years now and have never commented until now. This lesson has mind blowing information. You’ve condensed into one lesson what you’d get in years of private lessons. You are a fantastic teacher with such an easy going style. Thanks a million!

    • Gary H says

      Excited about this lesson. Really great teaching here, Brian. Thank you. You mention doing more on the ‘drawers’ (same as pockets?) and that would definitely be worthwhile for me to reinforce my assumptions as to how this works.. …and/or an example with something simpler that just involves staying in a drawer with the the 1st, 4th, 5th and one minor chord with embellishment notes and moving it to another drawer on the neck. But I leave it in your capable hands to decide what to do as a possible follow-on to this. By the way, renewed my membership to learn EP367 “Chord Embellishments…” which just sounded so great to me and a help to me with what I am focused on trying to learn.

    • Douglas S says

      I notice that when the root of the chord is on a given string, the CAGED shape is the note of that open string.
      For example, if the root is on the 1st (or 6th) string, which is an open “E,” then the corresponding CAGED shape is “E.”
      If the root is on the 5th string (open “A”) then use the “A” CAGED shape.
      If the root is on the D (4th) string, use the “D” shape, and finally,
      if the root is on the 3rd string(G) use the “G” shape.
      This breaks down on the second string (B) probably because that’s where the guitar’s tuning switches from perfect 4ths to a major 3rd. But hey, four out of five ain’t bad!

    • TONY S says

      Fantastic lesson Brian.Light bulb moments regarding the CAGED system.I understood the different 1-5 patterns/shapes but your explanation on what strings to start on was magic.All your lessons are excellent but this one was superb 👍

  5. David S says

    Wow! What a lesson.Gonna spend a lot of time with this but I can see it’s got to advance me more than anything lately.I know most of the cage system but this is a lot more advanced.Thanks for this lesson.I needed this now before my allshammers keep me from it. Thanks for all you do. The best at teaching on the internet..Keep up the good work.You are helping a lot of people .
    You have a special gift. Dave

  6. Mike R says

    One of your best lessons by far about learning the fretboard. This explains how really good guitarists that don’t know any theory move around freely. I’ve know some really wonderful guitarists that played beautifully and when I would ask them about the theory involved with what they played they would say to me, I don’t know, you tell me what I played, your the one studying theory. I was taught many years ago that the entire circle of 5ths could be played by just moving one fret north or one fret south, but it was never explained that this could be done by using the CAGED system, which makes even more sense. Wonderful lesson. I really like the way you explained it and tied it to scales. Makes moving from one chord to another easier to see this. Thanks

  13. Wil W says

    Dear Brian,

    thank you for one new awsome lesson. I use the next system, which gets the same results. I only use the C-major pentatonic notes (C, D, E, G, A), which are also the names in the CAGED-system. So I am leaving out the B and the F note. When I look at the guitarneck starting from position 0 (zero) I see the next notes: 1st string, E, G; 2nd string: C, D; 3rd string: G, A; 4th string: D, E; 5th string: A, C and 6th string: E, G (same as the first string).
    These note names are the same as the shape names from the CAGED system, which you can play as the root is on that string. For instance if the root is on the second string, you can play the C-shape or the D-shape. The first note (here C) is the shape if you want the major scale to be played to the right of the root position. The second note (here D) is the shape if you want the major scale to be played to the left of the root position. This last rule is applies to all the other strings.
    You confine yourself to one shape on each string, which is probably the best is you first start with this method.

    Wil

  14. Gordon C says

    Thanks Brian. This plus e374/375 is probably the best foundational lessons I have come across in my random “fin d somehing to play on Youtube” method of learning. Every Saturday morning I spend time with your more structured lessons. This week i couldn’t sleep so here I am at 5am. It’s nice that I could learn a bunch without having to play and wake my partner up.

    A question; Who are your go to players? I have in my list Mayer, Betts, Garcia, Clapton, Knopfler, Young and any of the Steely Dan guitarits. On acoustic I listen to Mayer, Taylor, Cockburn, Clapton, Young (as I made the lists I kept thinking “but what about…”

    thanks

  16. Daniel H says

    Once again another brilliant lesson. you have helped me bring my playing to a level I used to dream of…but there is plenty of room for improvement!

    Minute 10:53 you posted a major scale when you were talking and playing a minor scale. But still, the passion in your teaching is very encouraging to us students!

  17. Kevin S says

    I’m thinking this is as close to a “skeleton key” to the fretboard as anything I’ve ever come across. Thank you so much. (You’ll just have to imagine my “I am not worthy” bow.)

  18. Daniel H says

    The fretboard diagrams are very helpful. I had been cutting and pasting your diagrams from your previous lessons to create a page for each shape (drawer) that would show the major, minor, pentatonics, mixolydian, dorian irrespective of the key. Each page was simply the caged chord shape and its attached scales.

  19. charjo says

    Hi Brian,
    This is very much related to the concept of seeing the octave root shapes in one position. Each octave root shape relates to one of the major modal scale positions, ie roots on 6th, 4th, 1st is Locrian or Ionian (ie. they overlap), roots on the 4th and 2nd string fit within the Dorian pattern, roots on the 5th and 3rd strings fit within the Lydian or Mixolydian scale shape (again they overlap). All the octave root shapes within the one fret will correspond to the 5 modal scale shapes (of which there are 7 but, again, 2 overlap) which are the 5 positions of the major scale. You have related it to the 5 CAGED shapes, which contain those roots, which also relate to the 5 positions of the major scale. It all amounts to the same thing but just another, and helpful way of seeing it. It is definitely another good reason to learn all the notes on the fret board.

  20. Laurel C says

    Brilliant Brian. Next level CAGED fundamentals and knowing the neighbours. Attaching the corresponding note- string- shape onscreen is a game changer. Filled in the gaps for the 3rd and 4th strings for me. Lot of work and thought has gone into this and the pdf. This lesson is going to keep on giving. CAGED is like a 5 draw filing system, the issue is having each of these draws filled with a likewise organised filing system. Then knowing how to take the files from the 5 draws and combine them coherently.

  21. Raymond P says

    Oh my goodness, this is absolutely one of the best lessons I’ve ever seen. Your fretboard diagrams answer so many questions on how the fretboard works. I will be using these diagrams for a long time as a reference. I can’t thank you enough Brian. Please do more lessons like this.

  22. Chuck M says

    Thanks for this lesson. I realized I knew this in concept but hadn’t thought about how to practice it. With this lesson as a guide, I think I will be able to recall it and use it. Very good. Thank you.

  26. Klaus G says

    chapeau Brian
    I am a SW-engineer and I like to order and visualise thinks, Systems and problems methodically.
    You habe done it again, meaning getting a lightbulb on
    Up to now I ordered the note material in scales in the 5 positions. Problem is, there are for me at least 3 Systems parallel to memorise: Major, Minor and Mixo
    That is confusing for me and I get mixed up.
    But your system with the 5 drawers for the 5 shapes gets me around my problem.
    I can memorise drawer after drawer
    Your solo example for the E-Shape helps a lot
    I will transpose it for the other 4 drawers/shapes
    Like Daniel H will I make charts of the scales and chord for every of the 5 shapes
    Sorry for the clumsy english, I am german
    Greetings Klaus

  27. Greg O says

    Wow a lifetime of knowledge neatly wrapped up in a concise and understandable bow ! Love love love this explanation . Thank you so much for a well thought out lesson. It’s all in there. This one lesson is worth the price of admission. Keep it up. You are very much appreciated.

  28. Harold V says

    Thank you Brian. This was an “A HA” moment for me. I have been using the CAGED systems since I started taking lessons from you three years ago. What clarified this for me on how to connect chords, arpeggios, and scales was by connecting the strings to the root notes and then connecting the CAGED shape to the individual strings. This makes total since, and this lesson and the previous lesson were the best two lessons yet to explain how to visualize the fret board. Thank you so much for what you do,

  31. Biker13 says

    Great lesson. But at the end of the day the only way to fully leverage this (and so many other tools to improve your improvisation) is to know every note on the fretboard. And, outside of understanding the octaves, there’s no real easy way to do that other than dedicating yourself to the task.

    • Daniel H says

      Biker13, … “FaChords Fretboard Trainer” has an excellent tool to help you learn and memorize the notes on your fretboard. It is gasoline for the fire that Brian lights. I highly recommend it.

  33. BRIAN R says

    Very interesting. After watching your video I realized that I have been playing around the edges of this technique without actually knowing what I was doing (which describes most of my playing). Having an explanation in”simple” terms is very interesting and very helpful.

    • Mel T says

      my doors have monkey wrench-is in them. sorry..
      im very dislexci the shape thing is killing me lol i learn a lot by sight and now my ear is starting to get me there but the sight thing is still messing with me
      i get the doors but the shape
      iv mainly concentrating on teck-neck in lead and triads but theses shapes dont fit what im seeing sorry if that dosent makes any cents
      im very sorry i see there is a lot of work in what you did Brian
      i have all so been recording your tec-nackel language an lisen to the recording at night when im sleeping im trying any thing that helps
      just thought id shair that
      sorry again …

      • Mel T says

        hold on i dident look at the other pdf look’S like the E-C3m-A-B finger placement sorry
        Nice Lesson Brian
        but there all good i was up till 12:30 diving in to a bunch of the lessons
        thank you

  43. mritalian says

    I don’t have much to add to what a lot of others have already said, but this lesson really does a lot to enhance my understanding. Great way to show how the CAGED system is the whole highway to everything. Much appreciated the hard work you put into this lesson. Ron

  44. Stev G says

    I had my own micro epiphany that might help people remember which CAGED shape is associated with which string. 1st or 6th string = E string E shape, 3rd string = G string G shape, 4th string = D string D shape, 5th string = A string A shape. The one anomoly of course the 2nd string but hey you can’t have it all! Thanks for another great one Brian!

    • Marty H says

      @Stev G says, I was going to ask a similar question. Why is the second string tuned to B instead of C? Who came up with that curve ball in the first place? You could still play a C Major Chord by leaving the second string open. and the CAGED system would make more sense for my “consistency-is-simplicity” brain because then the string names would match the CAGED system!

      • Gary H says

        The answer to your question that I’ve heard Marty is that it makes chords more playable for the 2nd string is tuned to a B. For example, you couldn’t play a lot of barre chords if the 2nd was tuned to a C.

        Also, it may be worth noting that you would not just be changing the the 2nd string but to stay consistent but the 1st string would be tuned to an F which is the 4th of C.

        So to truely understand this, we could tune every string to 4ths, EADGCF and try to playing this way. But someone a very long time ago already did this work for us and discovered that EADGBE is a far better way to go. Most of us pretty much just take this on faith rather than try it or understand it because we’re some sort of musical genius.

  47. Brian D says

    Great lesson Brian and I love the draws analogy – a great resource would be a PDF showing each draw and the related patterns within each draw. I have done just that for the E, C and A as they seem to be the common draws and this has helped crystalize a bunch of things for me I just wish I had your endless lick library in my fingers 🙂

  48. Andrew G says

    I’ve always been the best guitarist in my bedroom, but with this lesson I have a chance to be the best guitarist in my neighborhood! Thanks Brian! As usual a goldmine of clear and concise information. Does the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have a teaching award?

  49. Chris D says

    Appreciate all your amazing content – this is another one of many game changing lessons you’ve provided us. I’ve taken lessons on and off for years, but the way you organize and communicate the content along with the accompanying materials /videos has moved my playing forward at a pace I’ve not experienced before. You are quite a gifted teacher – many thanks for what I believe is the best value I’ve found in my guitar journey.

  51. Pap says

    Hey Brian, this is a really great lesson. I started seeing this when I started really learning my triads up and down the neck. I realized that each three string pattern ties to CAGED. This also helps when thinking about chord inversions. There are shapes that relate to root, first or second inversion. Its a lot easier to remember when you think about it in the context of CAGED. Thanks again. Pap

  52. Phil P says

    A enjoyable lesson. I like numbering all the notes after choosing any key. The root is always 1 and the second string always shifts to the right by one fret. Bearing this in mind the number always appears in the same position as it relates to the root note.position.
    It would be great to see this in a graphic with colored numbers and including sharps and flats.

  54. T-Bish says

    Brian,

    Since we can play everything within three grouped frets, how do you determine the ideal location to play in with someone else? Is this by ear or visually seeing where someone is playing? I would love to hear your approach to this. Appreciate it.

    Tom

  55. Joanne S says

    Leaving this comment to make sure you know how excellent your lessons are, Brian. However often you hear it, it’s not enough. I’ve been playing for decades but never felt I had command of the entire fretboard until I started watching your videos. I’ve added instrumental pieces to my repertory thanks to you. I recommend your program to anyone who will listen. Keep it going, please!!! If you have time, adding more fingerpicking tips and compositions would be wonderful. Thank you for sharing your expertise.

  58. Keith F says

    Hi Great lesson. just one thing i don’t seem to get . if my root note is on the 4th string then i can play a D shape chord what if i play E root note on the 5th string do i play the D shape chord? to make an E chord. hope i have explained that correctly

  59. Brian T says

    Thank you Brian I love your teaching style. I have subscribed to many different guitar teaching sites and have spent quite a little money through the last 26 years. once I found Your site I have cancelled all but Active Melody.

    Your lessons have finally propelled me past the slump I felt trapped in for years.

    Thanks
    Brian T.

  60. Andy D says

    Wow! An absolutely phenomenally informative lesson. Will take me forever to get to grips with all those root notes, shapes and associated scales but that really does potentially unlock a world of advancement. Just dumbstruck, Brian – thanks SO much. Andy

  62. Sean H says

    Brian, This Whole past year has been an Awesome learning experience for me, as well as part of the previous when I discovered a more focused Love for Soulful Blues, and since SUS Chords. Now, I am increasingly so much more comfortable with the CAGED System since…Thanks So Much!! I guess, just keep streamlining whatever you can with each EP Lesson, Micro Lesson, and so on…would be greatly appreciated.

  64. cbuck says

    “A women is like a dresser someone always……” Great lesson . Your fills are in the key of e major, correct? When i make the different caged shapes, my mind wants to play a fill in the key of that chord i can find a starting place for that key easier than thinking back to e. does that make sense? Anytime you want to pull out a drawer and so us something. Great, that is what makes you so good. C B

  67. Harry G says

    Tremendous lesson Brian! This opens up a whole new chapter for me to build my improvisation skills and widen my playing ability. The pdf sheets will be very helpful. Thanks for a great lesson!

  71. Slimpicker says

    Great lesson! Love the drawer analogy. Like the drawers of a mechanics toolbox.
    I vote for deeper dive into the A drawer, G drawer, E drawer, and D drawer.
    With examples of major scale, minor scale, major and minor pentatonic, and arpeggios linked to each drawer.

    It would really help me to have a lesson or lessons that would incorporating the scales playing out of each drawer.

  72. Slimpicker says

    Similar to how your lesson on playing the Major scale all over the neck from the five drawers. I found that lesson to be priceless.
    A lesson linking the the minor pentatonic scale to the 5 drawers.
    Also linking the major pentatonic scale to the 5 drawers.

  73. Gary D says

    Great lesson!! Appreciate how you use the CAGED system as the foundation for this lesson. I shared it with a friend from church who told me he wants to learn to play lead patterns. Thanx for the time & effort to crank out these excellent lessons.

  77. helmut a says

    Great explanation of the caged system. I’ve heard good explanations from Trufire, very good explanations from Guthie Trapp. Your explanation is one of the best in my opinion.
    Great lesson
    helmut

  78. Geoff says

    This is a FANTASTIC lesson in my opinion.

    I learned the CAGED system and from classical guitar playing I know all the notes on the fretboard but I never thought about relating chords this way. The fact that I can get at every chord or scale I need within 3 frets is just is just something that never occurred to me. This is really going to help me see chord progressions ad where to throw in the appropriate scale (blues, major, minor, mixolydian – wow!)

    This has been a real “lightbulb” lesson and I just know that I will be drawing on these concepts a lot more when improvising stuff.

  81. Scott T says

    Brian been with you a few years now this lesson this time is a huge AHa for me The materials are incredible For many years I have played along with I tunes through my Focus rite. I have amazed myself how well I have been able to play along. Usually developing my own lead line to follow the songs. Having played in a band in my teens 60 years ago the chord changes have come easier foe me Amaxing what the mind retains after 40 years of not playing.
    Thnanks for all of your dedication to your craft. You have amazing teaching skiills ,, my playing is better than my typing keep all the amazing work !
    One mast thought while I got pretty adept at play Alonso’s as I mentioned my next challenge has been to convert to chords. This series is a god send for that!

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