The CAGED System Actually Sucks...

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something makes me think brandon is actually secretly a guitar smoking cigarettes

The CAGED system should only be used as a rough guide around the fretboard but I has to be mixed with other practices; combined with and understanding of triads it can be an great way to speed up learning how to navigate the fret board. Great vid Brandon!

Enjoying the longer-form content, keep up the good work

This beats all those 32 min videos 😂😂💯

I've been playing for 50 years. What they now describe as the CAGED system is something I figured out on my own through exploring the neck and trying to understand it. Movable chord shapes are something I show to a beginner. There's no magic or mystery to it. Anyone who doesn't know it probably SUCKS! But a pro level player shouldn't be limited by the restrictions of any system. You should be able to build any chord anywhere on the neck. I learned a lot about that from a friend of mine who I used to study with. His name was Ted Greene.

Great content love everything especially the yelling

For starters, the CAGED is only a map of major triads. It doesnt fail you if you are paying attention to the triads and intervals in each shape, if you know where the thirds are, you have your minors. Also, sitting in each shape is a pentatonic AND a Major scale, and if you understand relative minors, you have the minor versions of each scale as well. So you can go the route of learning scales, triads, intervals and note names seperately, or relative to a chord shape is up to you, but seeing the chord shapes changed my life with a guitar. If it bothers people so much, stop calling it CAGED, and instead think of it as chord shapes and triads, and realize it has nothing to do with playing chords up the neck, but rather SEEING chords up the neck.

I like CAGED, it works for me. I just don't only think in terms of CAGED shapes, but the triads are helpful for soloing and for coming up with rhythm guitar parts. I also use non CAGED arpeggio shapes where two notes are played on the same string. Maybe it would be limiting if it's your only way of understanding the fretboard, but I also know from experience what potential chords I can play at certain areas of the neck, the different shapes and the names of the chords. I also know the 7th chord shapes which aren't part of CAGED. Thinking of it in terms of CAGED is often the quickest way of finding the chord tones though, at least for me.

I did not have a tough time figuring out Em shape because I wasn't thinking "highest fret of the previous chord is the lowest position of the next". I was looking for the "next root" note. This, in my opinion, would help beginners 1. Help understand chord formulas 1,3,5 (also minor variations) 2. Root positions 3. Movable neck shapes 4. Triads 5. And then arrive at CAGED so that they know what was going on all this while.

Thanks Brandon, this shit really PISSES ME OFF

great explanations as always, Brandon

Dude where the hell were you 30 years ago? This was awesome and made me feel really stupid! Thank you for that!

This is why I like tomo's videos on learning triads.

The fact that you're such a fookin good instructor and that these longer form videos are so helpful really PISSES ME OFF

I only really use the E shaped and A shaped chords solely by remembering the notes of the frets on the low E and A string, gets me everywhere, easy/similar to play, works perfectly.

About time someone said it. Learn your triads. And ditch the cigarettes! 🚬 Should have had an example in G MINOR.

I love the CAGED system. It really opened up the fretboard for me. It showed how all of the major chords are laid out. Of course, I also learned how to turn all 5 shapes into minor, major 7th, minor 7th, dominant 7th, minor 7b5 and other chords. Some of the shapes are very easy to play, some aren't, but that gave me a massive chord library. And then there's major and minor scales aligned with each shape for lead playing. CAGED is how I think of the fretboard.

Professional here (not to sound arrogant lol) but the CAGED system is the one thing that has massively allowed me to improvise freely on the neck. CAGED combined with pentatonics. The fretboard is a non-intuitive layout, therefore you need specific systems to truly conceptualize the fretboard.

Ya make a video of doing the thing you said at the end