Description
In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to actually USE the CAGED system (in a practical sense) to play a country blues composition that requires no accompaniment. You’ll be killing 2 birds with one stone by playing a really fun song, while learning the CAGED chord positions. All played using triads. This will be a break-through lesson for a lot of you.
Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson
Part 2 - For Premium Members
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Slow Walkthrough
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Video Tablature Breakdown
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Tony says
Nice
Siegfried M says
Brian,
Though I am not a big Country fan, I think this is a valuable lesson that will definitely improve my understanding and playing
Best
Siegfried
Jimmey M says
I agree an don’t like country either really but info very useful
Francesco M says
wow! great . thank you-
Francesco M says
wow! great . thank you-
It,s pretty simple , but so prezioso / precious.
Bobs Ultra-339 Electric Guitar Level 2 Vintage Sun says
Great stuff
JohnStrat says
Brian
This lesson will go down in the annals of AM history. You will have mapped so many notes into a fantastically memorable lesson. For so many people. All players here will see the usefulness of this and be enlightens by its memorability.
Great job
JohnStrat.
Ian C says
Fabulous lesson. For a long time the problem I have recognised is relating pentatonic shapes and their reference numbers to chord shapes and respective licks.
I know CAGED, and I know the 1 to 5 scales. But when I’m playing I just keep tripping up by not being clear whether to think numbers or chord shapes.
Your last three lessons have been consolidating my determination to resolve this, yesterday I decided to try and ditch the pentatonic reference numbers and just think those scales associated with chord shapes.
Paddyboy says
Ian…..remember when trying to figure out soloing over chords………think, C A G E D and remember… if you’re using, for instance, an open G chord it uses the pentatonic shape number 1. Each of the CAGED system shapes corresponds to one of the 5 pentatonic shapes.
“G” shape = pentatonic shape #1—–“E” shaped G chord = Pentatonic shape #2—–“D” shaped G chord = Pentatonic shape #3—–“C” shaped G chord = Pentatonic shape #4 and “A” shaped G chord = Pentatonic shape #5
G=1 E=2 D=3 C=4 A=5 spells CAGED 1-5 are the pentatonic shapes. If your playing, for instance, an open G chord, that corresponds to the 1st pentatonic shape, if you move that G chord up to the next position in CAGED, that’s an E shaped bar chord and it gets the 2nd pentatonic shape in soloing. Then move that G chord up to the CAGED D shaped G chord and you will see it fits nicely over the 3rd pentatonic shape and so on for the last 2.
Jean Michel L says
Great job Paddy boy. Thank You for this super tip !
Jim M says
Very useful information Brian, while teaching us a nice little melody to explain the GAGED concepts.
Kent K says
I also like that one week you taught a rhythm lesson and the next a lead lesson over the same track. Please consider more of that!
Michael Allen says
I always enjoy your lessons on the CAGED Method. Thanks Brian
Raymond P says
A great lesson on how to use the CAGED system.
Thanks Brian
Ray P
Alex says
Thank you, Brian!
I like it very much when you do these country, with a touch of blues lessons!
I’m still practicing the lesson from December, as well as all the lessons in this style. Not sure if I will ever grasp the CAGED thing, I am just not good at all with comprehension! I just try to play what I see and hear you play.
One interesting thing that had happened over the last 10 years of subscribing to your channel and service, is that I’ll learn the lesson, then try to play the exact same thing in other keys, then eventually I will start improvising without even being aware that I’m doing it at first. It just sort of happens. I don’t understand the technical concepts and dialogue much, but I think my playing has gradually transformed from playing cowboy chords for 20 years, then 10 years with you, and now days people have definitely made comments that I have come a long way in recent years. I always tell them that you are the reason!
I have tried many teachers before, but walked away from them frustrated, and with very little improvement.
Israel U says
Very, very inspiring
Brian says
That’s so awesome to hear Alex. and thank you for 10 years! wow, you’re one of the originals.
Peter M says
Thanks for your teaching method. Here I am almost 70 and can’t get enough theory! One thing I would emphasize is the chromatic scale and how it is simply the fundamental building block of caged: A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#. anyway, it’s winter in Maine and I don’t care. I can play for hours everyday and then visit friends and play some more.
Phil G says
Oh yes!! Love my country with a little blues thrown in! But the best thing about this lesson is the application of CAGED, and how you’re showing pentatonic scales relative to the chord shapes. I know you use “pattern numbers”, but I really don’t see them. I see the chord shapes and the “scale” notes within them. Thanks for your lessons!!
Florent V says
HI
is there a typo on the soundslice tab at the measure 7 ? isnt that a C chord instead of G . or may be i mix it in my head : )
Brian says
Yes, you were right. good catch! I have fixed that on both the soundslice and PDF file – just refresh the page to view.
sunburst says
A terrific common 145 country progression using triads and ascending descending chromatic turnarounds.. some cool blues notes and like the dominate chords too .. good CAGE exercise for major intervals. utilizing again once again the preferred mixolydian (flatted 7th) with the dominate good lesson.. I think triads are so cool to understanding /how to utilize them
brian b says
Love it, understand it, but my bass player size fingers won’t cooperate.
sunburst says
yoh Brian ,..measure 15 am I hearing a repeated missing C note ? Anyway this is an amazing composition..lot of moving parts with the pick!
eames28 says
Another great lesson, Brian. I am also trying to connect the dots, shapes with the caged system. Question, you do a great job on measure 8 explaining that it is a c chord using the g shape because the pinky is on the first string eighth fret. However, you don’t use that note. To me ( confused me), it looks more like a c chord using the a shape. It probably doesn’t make any difference but I am new to the caged system and trying to visualize it.
Phil G says
If I may be so bold as to jump in here. I guess you’re talking about part 1 around 10:28? If you noticed earlier, he played the A shape C chord, with his index finger on fret 3, and holding down the B and G strings at fret 5. At 10:28, even though he is barring the same fret 5, he is using his index finger there. The reason he showed the pinky on fret 8 was just to show it is a G shape this time. Why? think of t his way. CAGED. So, the A shape bumps up against the G shape. That barre at fret 5 is the shared notes between the two shapes, and the dividing line. Any embellishment notes played between frets 3 and 5 will be out of the A shape. Notes played between frets 5 and 8, which he does when he plays the D and G strings on fret 7, will be out of the G shape.
Another way you might think of it is, the index finger on the A string fret 3 (the root C note) and barring D-B on fret 5 (with ring or pinky), will be an A shape. The index finger barring D-B on fret 5 will be a G shape. The C root notes are actually G5 and e8 (e8 not used in this case).
Hope that helps.
eames28 says
Thanks Phil, your explanation really helped…..I am slowly getting how it all blends together.
Rob P says
Sounds great when he plays it but mine sounds crappy, but thanks for the lesson.
Angelo I says
Incredible….I’ve learned a few of your lessons that used CAGED but wow, just that simple pattern 5 under the “A”chord shape, with the embellishments & chord change example in the very beginning of this lesson was HUGE all by itself. So simple but sounds so complex and melodic. Thank you.
Angelo I says
I’m enjoying this lesson so much. I was able to do simple improvising right away using the triads of the top of the “A” chord shape with embellishments & the triads of the “E” chord shape with embellishments along with different chord progressions in different keys to make simple but pretty cool sounding music. Major Lightbulb moment.
Noddy57 says
Loving these CAGED lessons !
rob y says
When I play this on my CEO-7, it just doesn’t sound anything like yours. Lots of extra (wrong) notes on mine….guitar must be defective or somethin.
wforrest2 says
I think the Bb chord works theory-wise as it’s the 4 chord in key of F. Can be thought of as the flat dominant 7 of the 1 chord (C) and resolves to F.
Great lesson. I’d personally enjoy a lesson, swingy blues, that involves finding leads through adiminished chord and 1-6-2-5 sequence.
G / / / C/ / /G / / /G / / /C/ / /Cdim/ / / G/ / / E / / / A / / / D / / / G / E / A / D
Wayne
Barry G says
WWascti
Will L says
Yep!
Lightbulbs going off all over the place!
Bill C says
This is a good tune. Country flavor but blues dominant. Very good.
kumar p says
amazing food for my fingers and guitar 😀
Theodore J says
Love it Brian, The Mix is great
severin k says
Hello
sorry to be silly, but for the first F chord, you go for the 4th note G chord, which is a B. I read it as a flat 5th, which is not part of the chord, unless mistaken. can you please explain ?
thanks a lot for the great stuff 🙂
Marty H says
Brian,
This is a very useful lesson. I’m at that place in my guitar playing that I have so many pieces to the puzzle but have no clue on how they fit together. Frustrating! I would love for you to put something together that shows the big picture. How do i use all the things that i have learned? If i were to be inserted into a band as a guitar player (lead or rythym) what would i need to know? If someone asked me to play anything right now i would just be able to do some small licks and some chords. I have very little knowledge of how to put it all together. I hope this makes sense. Thanks for listening.☺
Richard M says
Thank you for this amazing lesson! There were numerous lightbulb moments with this one!
Richard F says
I’ve been playing guitar for a long time. Have used CAGED for years, which helped me navigate the fretboard, but I never learned how to integrate the scales & chords. Started ActiveMelody with EP346. After a few runs through it, I started hearing other melodies. I then played Hank’s “You Win Again,” and the riffs from 346 fit right in. Amazing.
Would love to see more classic 40’s & 50’s Western Swing lessons, especially interested in Eldon Shamblin-style chord progressions. Th anks.
Roy B says
In my guitar learning journey, I followed a suggestion to always devote practice time to start with scales, then move on to chords, and finish with songs. This helped me to learn diatonic, pentatonic and blues scale shapes as well as open and closed chord shapes but I did not make a connection between the two. I used the CAGED system in learning the the chord shapes and sensed a connection with scales but I just didn’t get the connection.
Last evening I finally had my Aha! / Eureka! moment and made the connection. With a developing insight I drew out the CAGED chord shapes and overlaid the corresponding pentatonic scale shapes on some fretboard paper and then went to the joyful moment of playing these corresponding chord and scale shapes on my guitar. With this insight I made these shape connections for both major and minor chord and scale shapes. So cool! This new insight even affected my sleep last night as I had pleasant dreams of different chord / lick phrases.
This morning I am really enjoying this lesson, EP346 as I have a better understanding of why it works. This is a lesson that I really want to learn. Going forward I hope to see a similar lesson done with corresponding minor chord and scale shapes.
Really enjoying my Active Melody membership… I enjoy Brian’s lessons that provide the how with a good measure of why… really helps to develop skills that are transferable across music of all genres.
Mike H says
Brian, great lesson. I have seen different videos with a feature I wish you would add to all of yours if possible and that is the backup 15
seconds or add 15 seconds. It would make it easier repeat a lick that you need to see again. Thanks. Keep on pickin!
Pat says
Yep, this is a fun piece to play especially playing along with Brain using the video tablature function which is great for sight reading practice , trying not to look at the hands.
Patrick O says
Not sure if it’s the guitar or the piece your playing, but it reminds me of Mother Nature’s Son from the White album.
Very nice!
Ian D says
Brian, I can’t express how much I appreciate you as a teacher. After 45 years of fiddling with catatonic scales, etc, and just sounding mediocre, my playing has, in one month, reached the “wow” level with my friends and family. You have a unique way to teach that – finally – helps me understand how to tie it all together. I truly appreciate it, I learn a new piece very week, so keep them coming. And, know that there are many like me who appreciate you. – Ian D.
Ian D says
Of course, I typed “pentatonic.”
james s says
What little pick up has that Martin got ? If this has been answered , don’t answer and ill look through comments ,, is it Lr baggs ? Anthem? Loving your lessons thanks
William T says
This lesson is very exciting and I’m determined to master it. I think a simplified version, just playing a standard song or a simple one of your own, in different places up the neck, would be really helpful. But this is great.
One thing driving me crazy is talk of THE numbering for pentatonic shapes. If you just pull them out of thin air as though everyone agrees on what number one is. But do they? In your reply above you say that 1 corresponds to the open G chord, and that shape 2 is the E shape at the third fret.
But the first site I found on Google says I is the G chord played at the third fret, i.e. the E shape. And on you (very useful) chart for the major chords you don’t have numbers, but the first on your list of G scales is the Eshape.
I guess I’ll figure it out, but it’s driving me crazy.
will
William T says
ps.
Is it possible that when you teach the first figure, for the a shape c chord, you mean pentatonic scale pattern FOUR??? As I say, I’m baffled.
As you think about your weekly lessons, you might want to do some that are even more basic and patient. If I came across this on youtube I would give it a try and just give up, as i have done with some of your other lessons. When you a show a chord, don’t just say “this one”; you know where your fingers are, but I have to make inferences.
two other revelations, fwiw. Whatever the convention may be for naming pentatonic scales, it’s NOT C= 1 A= 2 etc. Now If I can just figure out what your convention is. I’m getting there.
Also: a country blues “long A” chord turns out to be (in the CAGED system) a partial G chord. Totally obvious, now, but it had me stumped for years.
will
George N says
The numbering system a bit of a problem.i believe the E shape for the major penta is considered as the 1 shape,The 1 shape for the penta minoris the G shape.For the full major scale the Ionian is the 1 shape for the full minor scale the Aeolian is the 1 shape The E shape is the 1 for the mixolydian shape.
Mark says
Another fantastic lesson! I don’t know where CAGED was for the first 20 years of my guitar playing but I sure could have used it! I learned it about 3 years ago now, and that along with the other lessons on Active Melody have made me a real guitar player, not just a song memorizer. Learning where the root notes are for chords and scale patterns is what helped me I understand how to move them around. After seeing how valuable that was, I took the time to learn what the other scale degrees are in every pattern. If you are serious about learning to play, this lesson is must know information! Thank you for explaining the “why” something works in all of your lessons.