Hey Friend,

Here’s the follow-up exercise from yesterday’s lesson and question from Storm.

Storm asked, “Why does the CAGED system exclude the B and F chords?”

Below is most of the original email, but this time I have it broken down into sections based on the exercise file. It should be pretty easy to follow.

The idea behind CAGED is too give you a tool to remember there are five basic triad shapes we can use to play major chords. If you start in the open position (that’s down at the nut and usually the first three frets), any one of these shapes can be played and then moved up the neck to new positions to advance to the new major triad.

Finger a D triad (index finger on the second fret, third string, middle finger on the first string, second fret and ring finger on the second string, third fret). Strum those three strings.

Now slide the shape up two frets so your index and middle fingers are now on the fourth fret. This triad is now an E major chord.

Play that, then change your fingers to an open E shape over the fifth, fourth and third strings. Sounds the same, doesn’t it? Just a different in the pitch of the notes, but they are the same notes.

Now take that E major triad and slide it up the neck one fret. Your index finger should be on the second fret, third string. You middle is on the third fret, fifth string and your ring finger is now on the third fret of the fourth string.

That is an F major triad. This is the same shape as an E major triad, which is why F isn’t named in the CAGED system. The same goes for B because it uses the same shape as the A major triad.

So you see, B and F weren't left out on purpose - they would just be redundant. At least they have each other!

Now you might look at the C and G shapes and think, “hey, these are the same shape, too. Why do they get to headline?”

I’m with ya, I thought the same thing. But if you look closer at the differences between open C and G triads, you’ll see that standard string tuning allows you to play more open strings for G than it does for C. While the triad shape appears identical, it's the note location that dictates how each shape generates its sound.

You can really see the difference between the C and G shape when you play a barred version of each. I showed this by moving up two frets for both C and G and gave you D and A, respectively. 

I hope seeing and hearing how these CAGED shapes work gives you a better idea of why it’s a popular way to learn chord shapes and neck movement. It’s just another tool we have to help us improve our playing and understanding.

Let me know what questions you have.

Peace~

Dave