The C-A-G-E-D system is a way of understanding where to find ANY chord on your guitar in ANY fret position (…waaaay up there on the 15th fret? no problem…) As a beginner, you start out learning the basic major and minor chords by way of convenience, as they’re easier to play. But did you know that these basic chord shapes can be used to play other chords? Let’s take a look at the A major chord.
When you play the A major chord in it’s normal spot, notice all of your fingers are in the 2nd fret.
But if you keep your fingers on the same strings and slide them (holding the shape they’re in) to the 3rd fret, that’s the A# (Bb) chord. If you slide it again to the 4th fret, that’s the B chord. If you’re a beginner, you might not yet understand why this is true, but for now, just absorb the concept that as you move up the fretboard, you’re changing the name of the chord by changing frets.
As you slide the shape up the frets, you’re going forwards through the musical alphabet by half steps, (which is explained in THIS POST) and now all of the sudden that one shape can be shifted around to get new chords.
I should say that it’s not quite this easy, because when you shift to new frets, you can’t play the same open strings you would on the original chord because the sounds will clash. But again, suffice it to say that the 5 major chords C-A-G-E-D, are the main chord shapes you can use to get to any other chord on the fretboard. The next posts in this series will cover each shape and how to tackle them.
Much Respect,
The Musician’s Toolbox
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