The CAGED system is a way of organizing the guitar fretboard around five open-chord shapes: C, A, G, E, and D.
When these shapes are turned into moveable chords, they can be found in different regions of the fretboard. The five shapes connect to one another and repeat after the octave, creating a useful map for locating chords, roots, and scale notes.
The name CAGED comes from the order in which these shapes appear along the fretboard: C → A → G → E → D.
The five shapes
You probably already know the open C, A, G, E, and D chords. In CAGED, the shape of each chord is used as a reference even when the chord is moved to other frets.
For example, an open E major chord is the E shape in its open position. Move that shape along the fretboard with a barre, and it remains an E shape, but the chord gets a different root.
The same applies to the other four shapes.
The regions they occupy overlap. There is therefore no rigid boundary between one position and the next: the end of one shape already contains notes that are also part of the following shape.
After the D shape, the sequence returns to C and begins again one octave higher.
On this page’s tool, you can select a position to view only that region of the fretboard and see how the chord fits inside the scale.
Chords inside the scale
One of the main advantages of CAGED is seeing the relationship between chords and scales.
The notes of the corresponding chord appear inside each region. In this tool’s diagram, those notes are highlighted with a ring.
In a major chord, for example, they are:
- the root;
- the major third;
- the perfect fifth.
These notes are especially useful for improvisation and creating melodies because they show where the sounds of the current chord are located.
That does not mean a phrase must always end on one of them. The effect depends on the harmony and musical context. But recognizing chords inside a scale helps you choose notes intentionally instead of simply running through a memorized shape.
CAGED and scales
CAGED grew out of chord shapes, but it can also be used as a reference for organizing scales across the fretboard.
A scale normally covers a larger region than the chord shape. Scale positions therefore overlap the CAGED shapes rather than being exactly the same thing.
This distinction matters:
CAGED organizes the fretboard around chord shapes; scales can be studied around those shapes.
In practice, this lets you identify within one position:
- where the root is;
- where the chord tones, third, and fifth are;
- which notes belong to the scale;
- how that region connects to the next one.
The minor pentatonic, for example, can also be related to these fretboard regions.
What about minor keys?
The same fretboard can be organized when you play in minor keys, but it is better not to think of the system as simply “borrowing” shapes from the relative major.
Relative scales share the same notes. A natural minor and its relative major, for example, use the same set of notes but have different roots and harmonic functions.
So the same scale shape can appear in both contexts, but what you treat as the root, main chord, and point of reference changes.
There are also minor versions of the moveable shapes used for minor chords.
Where CAGED works
The CAGED system is directly tied to standard guitar tuning, usually written as:
E A D G B E
The relationship between these six strings is what makes the five traditional shapes connect in this way.
The system therefore cannot simply be transferred to instruments with other tunings.
A bass, ukulele, or cavaquinho has different relationships between its strings and needs to be studied according to its own patterns.
Alternative guitar tunings also change some of these relationships. In Drop D, for example, the sixth string no longer follows the same pattern as standard tuning. Much of the fretboard remains familiar, but some shapes need to be adapted.
How to study CAGED
A good way to begin is to choose one chord and find it in all five shapes.
For example, try playing G major in different regions of the fretboard, using the C, A, G, E, and D shapes in sequence.
Then observe the scale around each chord.
Instead of memorizing five isolated shapes, try to recognize:
- where the root is in each shape;
- where the third and fifth are;
- how one position connects to the next;
- which notes remain when you change shapes.
Over time, the five positions stop looking like separate diagrams and begin to work as parts of one fretboard.