MODERN THEORY

This issue’s lesson is about how you can combine the CAGED system, pentatonic scales and arpeggios to make your solos more melodic and memorable. The CAGED system is a very useful tool. It allows you to see one chord in five different positions on the fret board using five open chord positions.

Once you know how to create barre chords form open chords you will understand how to turn five open major chords into 60 chords. Combine this with minor chords or seventh chords, any type of chord extension, and you will become a walking chord encyclopedia.

The CAGED system is also very useful when soloing. If you can see the chords underneath the scales you are playing you will be able to create phrases that are melodic and memorable. I think of it like this: if you can sing along to a solo from a song then it must be melodic, and if you can sing it from memory it must be memorable.

The CAGED system can be used to see the chord tones underneath the common pentatonic chord shapes, so there should be no new patterns for you to learn, just an awareness of which CAGED shape fits under which pentatonic shape.

EXERCISE #1

Exercise #1 outlines the five open major positions of the CAGED system. The corresponding C major barre chord follows each open position chord. The CAGED system spells out the five chords it uses, C major, A major, G major, E major and D major. Not all of these chords work neatly as barre chords. I find myself using versions of these chords all the time though, particularly the open G and D.

The open G chord works well on the four lower strings. I also like to use it to hammer onto the third of the chord and leave out the low E string. The open D works really well as a barre chord on the four inside strings. I use it all the time because there is no major third in this voicing, only the fifth and root not of the chord, making it great with lots of distortion.

EXERCISE #2

Exercise #2 outlines the five open minor positions of the CAGED system. Now the corresponding C minor barre chord follows each open position chord. The difference between the minor and major shapes is only one note. The third note of each chord is what determines whether it is major or minor.

It’s easy to hear this difference if you play double stops on any string pair. Play a root note with a third on top and switch between a major and minor third; for example play the eighth fret on the low E string and switch between the seventh and sixth frets on the A string. This interval changes the sound from a happy feeling to a sad feeling just by simply flipping between the two notes.

EXERCISE #3

Exercise #3 maps out the CAGED shapes using the most common box shape known, the minor pentatonic box. It is a four barre chord progression with one chord per bar; C major, A minor, F major and G major. This is a very common and useful chord progression and it is diatonic, meaning it only contains the notes from the C major scale.

The A minor pentatonic scale contains five of the seven notes in C major. Each chord only uses three notes from the key of C major so it’s impossible to play a bad note, if the note you’re playing sounds weird resolve to one the chord tones.

Using the chord voicings we derived from the CAGED system, we can fit our chords entirely within the minor pentatonic box shape. Try replacing my generic pentatonic runs for licks or phrases you already have committed to memory.

This idea works for all of the five pentatonic box shapes. In the next issue, I will go over some more and ways to link links your ideas, hopefully you can take what you already know and expand your ability to phrase melodically.