# CAGED — five doors up the neck

> Interactive page: [`caged.html`](caged.html)

**Also in this track:** [Scales](scales.md) · [Modes](modes.md) · [Jazz](jazz.html) · [Scales shape lab](scales.md#scale-shape-systems)

The fretboard is a grid. **CAGED** maps it with five open major shapes — **C, A, G, E, D** — that you can move up the neck. The letters name **finger patterns**, not the chord you are always playing. When you follow one chord name up the neck, shapes connect in order **C → A → G → E → D → C**.

This chapter synthesizes seven published guides (listed on the HTML page under **Sources we synthesized**).

## Shape name vs chord name

- **E form** at the nut = E major.
- **E form** with a barre at fret 1 = F major — still **E form**.
- **A form** with root C on the A string (fret 3) = C major — **A form**, not “A chord”.

Justin Guitar’s capo trick: imagine a capo where your barre is; the open shape name stays the same.

## Root landmarks

Each shape has a main root location (Premier Guitar / NGA). Neighbour shapes share at least one root note — the “glue” between puzzle pieces.

The HTML page shows a small neck for each open shape with its root marked.

## Step 1 — Five open shapes

Open diagrams + strums on [`caged.html#forms`](caged.html#forms). Learn these on [Open chords](chords.md) before moving shapes.

**Moveable:** same pattern, new root (often with a barre). Barre drills: [Barre chords](barre.md).

## Step 2 — C major ladder

Core lesson (AGT, NGA, Premier Guitar): keep **C major** fixed and walk **C → A → G → E → D**.

Typical fret landmarks for C: **open · 3 · 5 · 8 · 10**.

On [`caged.html#ladder`](caged.html#ladder):

- One **step card** (chord box + neck with every note in the grip; square = root C).
- **Glue** callout between steps (shared roots / treble overlap).
- **Overview neck** — all five regions; tour in order.

G and D forms are often awkward to fret fully (Guitar World); learn the map anyway.

## Step 3 — Grow the shape

On [`caged.html#scale-grow-card`](caged.html#scale-grow-card), **Step 3** has its own **C A G E D** shape picker (not tied to the ladder). Two rows of layers. **Major:** triad → pentatonic box → major-scale box. **Minor:** triad (E → Eb) → min-pent box → **natural minor** (1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7). Same letter map for every box: C←5 down an octave, A←1, G←2, E←3, D←4. Then the **CAGED lab** for other roots. Maps: [Scales](scales.md), [Modes · shapes](modes.md#mode-shapes).

## Finding any major chord

1. Pick a note (e.g. F).
2. Find it on **low E** or **A string**.
3. Drop **E form** or **A form** so that root lands on the barre.
4. Add C / G / D forms via the lab when E and A are automatic.

## Natural minor (constructed)

From [Guitar Orb · CAGED intervals](https://www.guitarorb.com/caged-intervals/): pick the scale’s intervals out of the major CAGED position. **Major** is the reference chart (C frets 0–3, A 2–6, G 4–8, E 7–10, D 9–13). **Minor pentatonic** (1, ♭3, 4, 5, ♭7) is the two-notes-per-string box that sits most inside that window: each string takes the next two pitches above the last, so no note sounds on two strings. The five letters land on the five standard boxes (low E starts on F, G, B♭, C, E♭). **Natural minor** is that box plus every 2 and ♭6 on the frets the shape spans, never repeating a pitch. One that would sit outside the shape’s box moves to the same pitch on another string inside it, or is left out — in the G form the high e’s A♭ moves to B string fret 9 and the low E’s A♭ goes; in the E form the D on the G string at fret 7 goes. **Minor triad** lowers each E of the grip to E♭; if the E♭ would fall outside the shape’s box, that string plays the nearest C, E♭ or G inside it instead — G at fret 3 on the high e in the C form, G at fret 8 on the B string in the G form. Step 3’s **Natural minor** and **Min pent** pills draw those shapes.

## CAGED lab

Every Step 3 layer in any key. Root + letter (C A G E D order) + quality — **Major triad**, **Major pentatonic**, **Major scale**, **Minor triad**, **Minor pentatonic**, **Natural minor** — and the lab slides Step 3’s exact C shape up the neck to that root, so the lab and Step 3 can’t disagree. Buttons: chord tones (1–3–5 or 1–♭3–5), play shape, tour all letters up the neck from the lowest one. The neck shows every note, spelled in the key, on frets 0–15. Below the nut a scale counts as an open position only if two thirds of it survive; a triad must keep every note.

## Suggested order

1. [Shape vs chord](caged.html#shape-vs-chord)
2. [Roots](caged.html#roots) + [open shapes](caged.html#forms)
3. [C major ladder](caged.html#ladder) until 0-3-5-8-10 sticks
4. Lab: E + A for a new root, then tour
5. Step 3’s minor row, then the lab in **natural minor** (`cagedMin`), then [Modes](modes.md)

## 10-minute routine

1. **2 min** — open C A G E D
2. **4 min** — ladder, say shape names aloud on **Next**
3. **2 min** — lab chord tones, E then A form
4. **2 min** — Step 3 on one letter: major scale, then natural minor

Lite drills: [Scales · scale shapes](scales.md#shapes).

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*Interactive twin: [`caged.html`](caged.html).*