The CAGED System

The CAGED system takes the five open chords you already know, C, A, G, E and D, and turns each one into a moveable shape. Line them up for one chord and they cover the whole fretboard end to end, so you always know where the root, the chord tones and the scale around them are.

This chapter works in C major throughout. After a first lesson that maps all five shapes from open position to the 12th fret, you take them one at a time: the C shape, the A shape, the G shape, the E shape and the D shape. For each one you play the chord, its arpeggio and the C major scale that sits under your hand, and learn where it overlaps its neighbors. The last lesson links all five, shifting positions mid-scale without breaking the rhythm.

Each tab exercise plays in the browser with a click, and a checkpoint at the end of each lesson confirms the shape is solid. Once the map clicks in C, moving it to any other key is just a slide.