I Didn't Understand CAGED Until I Saw These 5 Octave Shapes
Ricky Comiskey
10,106 views
The five CAGED octave shapes give you a simple way to find root notes, connect chords to scales and understand how familiar chord shapes fit across the guitar fretboard.
In the previous lesson, we looked at the five CAGED chord shapes and the root notes hidden inside them. Now we’re going to strip those chords down to their octave shapes.
Take away the thirds and fifths from a chord and the root notes give us a simple visual skeleton that we can move around the guitar neck.
Those octave shapes become useful landmarks for finding chords, Major and minor pentatonic scales, full scales, arpeggios, triads and guitar licks in different positions.
We’ll work through all five CAGED shapes individually:
C shape
A shape
G shape
E shape
D shape
You’ll also see some simple fretboard geometry that makes the octave patterns easier to remember.
The A-shaped octave uses the useful up 2 frets and over 2 strings pattern.
The G and D-shaped octaves use up 3 frets and over 2 strings because of the tuning difference between the G and B strings.
We’ll also look at the 5-R-3 interval pattern inside the A, E and D chord shapes and why the G and E shapes contain three root notes rather than two.
The important idea is that you don’t need to drag an entire CAGED chord shape around the fretboard. Once you can see its root-note octave skeleton, you have a much simpler reference point for scales, arpeggios, chord tones and other musical ideas.
The worksheet shown in this lesson is available inside PDF Club.
PREVIOUS LESSON
Part 1 - Why the Guitar Fretboard Is Built Around 5 Shapes:
I Didn't Understand The Guitar Fretboard U...
WATCH NEXT
Part 2 - Connect the 5 CAGED Octaves Across the Fretboard:
These 5 Shapes Show You How To Find Any No...
CHAPTERS
00:00 The 5 CAGED Octave Shapes Explained
02:09 How Octaves Connect Chords, Scales and Arpeggios
04:26 Finding the C-Shape Octave
05:41 The A-Shape Octave: Up 2, Over 2
09:06 Finding the 3 Root Notes in the G-Shape
11:23 The E-Shape Octave and Moving Scales
17:21 The D-Shape Octave and Real Guitar Licks
20:13 Recap: All 5 CAGED Octave Shapes
23:44 How the CAGED Octave Shapes Connect Across the Neck
MY GUITAR RESOURCES
80 Lesson Guitar Book:
https://rickysguitar.com/80-book
PDF Club - Access the lesson worksheets and ALL my YouTube lesson PDFs:
https://rickysguitar.com/pdf-club26
Join my free Fretboard Fraternity community:
https://fretboardfraternity.com/
#CAGEDSystem #GuitarFretboard #RickysGuitar
10 Comments
I Didn't Understand CAGED Until I Saw These 5 Octave Shapes
Ricky Comiskey
10,106 views
The five CAGED octave shapes give you a simple way to find root notes, connect chords to scales and understand how familiar chord shapes fit across the guitar fretboard.
In the previous lesson, we looked at the five CAGED chord shapes and the root notes hidden inside them. Now we’re going to strip those chords down to their octave shapes.
Take away the thirds and fifths from a chord and the root notes give us a simple visual skeleton that we can move around the guitar neck.
Those octave shapes become useful landmarks for finding chords, Major and minor pentatonic scales, full scales, arpeggios, triads and guitar licks in different positions.
We’ll work through all five CAGED shapes individually:
C shape
A shape
G shape
E shape
D shape
You’ll also see some simple fretboard geometry that makes the octave patterns easier to remember.
The A-shaped octave uses the useful up 2 frets and over 2 strings pattern.
The G and D-shaped octaves use up 3 frets and over 2 strings because of the tuning difference between the G and B strings.
We’ll also look at the 5-R-3 interval pattern inside the A, E and D chord shapes and why the G and E shapes contain three root notes rather than two.
The important idea is that you don’t need to drag an entire CAGED chord shape around the fretboard. Once you can see its root-note octave skeleton, you have a much simpler reference point for scales, arpeggios, chord tones and other musical ideas.
The worksheet shown in this lesson is available inside PDF Club.
PREVIOUS LESSON
Part 1 - Why the Guitar Fretboard Is Built Around 5 Shapes:
I Didn't Understand The Guitar Fretboard U...
WATCH NEXT
Part 2 - Connect the 5 CAGED Octaves Across the Fretboard:
These 5 Shapes Show You How To Find Any No...
CHAPTERS
00:00 The 5 CAGED Octave Shapes Explained
02:09 How Octaves Connect Chords, Scales and Arpeggios
04:26 Finding the C-Shape Octave
05:41 The A-Shape Octave: Up 2, Over 2
09:06 Finding the 3 Root Notes in the G-Shape
11:23 The E-Shape Octave and Moving Scales
17:21 The D-Shape Octave and Real Guitar Licks
20:13 Recap: All 5 CAGED Octave Shapes
23:44 How the CAGED Octave Shapes Connect Across the Neck
MY GUITAR RESOURCES
80 Lesson Guitar Book:
https://rickysguitar.com/80-book
PDF Club - Access the lesson worksheets and ALL my YouTube lesson PDFs:
https://rickysguitar.com/pdf-club26
Join my free Fretboard Fraternity community:
https://fretboardfraternity.com/
#CAGEDSystem #GuitarFretboard #RickysGuitar