The CAGED system is a common topic among guitar players – whether you’re into jazz guitar or something else. Some people love it, some people hate it. But just about everybody uses it. Let’s take a look at why the CAGED system is important for jazz guitar players.
The CAGED system is a way of looking at the fretboard that uses simple chord shapes – chord shapes you probably already know – to be able to organize your neck and access all of your chords, scales, and arpeggios.
And here’s something interesting – just about every pro player you’ve ever heard of uses this system. They might not know it as the CAGED system, but they probably use the exact same shapes to organize their guitar neck.
Let’s jump in and take a quick look at some of the reasons why the CAGED system is important for your guitar playing, especially as you become more advanced.
It’s Simple
Maybe one of the biggest reasons the CAGED system is important to know is because it’s so simple.
The guitar is a complicated instrument to play. The fretboard is kind of a maze for a lot of people – so you need a way to organize it and keep yourself from getting lost.
This is especially true as you start playing more complicated songs with more key changes.
Now one of the great things about guitar in the first place is it’s fairly simple to pick up and play with your basic chords. You can be playing songs pretty quickly as long as you get the chord shapes under your fingers.
Where a lot of people hit a stumbling block is when they start trying to move around the neck – and that’s where the CAGED system comes in.
It gives you a really simple way to organize the fretboard. It lets you visualize where your fingers need to go for any chord, scale, or arpeggio you need. It’s so simple that sometimes you might even feel like it’s cheating – but it’s just how the guitar works.
Finally Understand the Fretboard
Another reason why the CAGED system is important is that it helps you finally understand the fretboard.
A good knowledge of the CAGED system gives you the ability to play any jazz guitar chord, scale, or arpeggio – in any key – anywhere on the guitar neck.
On a very simple level, the CAGED system gives you a template that you can use to create bar chords. This is one of the main first uses a lot of people see.
You can kind of make a finger shape that looks like an E chord, but with your finger barring across the neck. So now it’s not an E anymore – it’s something else.
And now instead of a finger shape being just one chord…
… you have a movable chord shape that can be any chord you need it to be. You just have to put your fingers on the right fret.
The same thing can be applied to your scale patterns. If you use the CAGED system for scales, you can move a finger pattern to any fret. And boom. Now you can play any scale in any key.
That’s one of the things that can quickly bump your playing up a level or two.
But another thing as you get deeper into the CAGED system is this:
It can let you play the same chord, scale, or arpeggio at different places along the neck. And this basically gives you the ability to move freely across the fretboard as you play.
It translates very quickly into the ability to play any scale…
… in any position on the neck
… in any key.
Whenever you see people playing solos that move up and down the neck they’re using the CAGED system to do that. And when you see people playing all kinds of crazy jazz guitar chords all over the place…
… they’re using the CAGED system to do that, too.
It’s a navigation system that lets you play all over the guitar fretboard seamlessly – and without getting lost.
Most Pro Guitar Players Use CAGED
If you are still wondering why the CAGED system is important – look at some of your favorite pro guitar players.
They all use CAGED.
They might not know it as the CAGED system – but they use it. Personally, I’ve learned the system three or four different times. From different teachers. And with different names.
But it’s still the same thing. Everybody uses CAGED.
Some people have different names for this system because their teacher called it something different. Or they just didn’t think of these shapes as related to the open chord shapes.
When I took a lesson with Jimmy Bruno, he just said “these are the scales” and that was it. So many pro players you like listening to use this system – they might just not use the term CAGED to describe it.
Organize Your Scales, Chords, and Arpeggios
The CAGED system gives you an easy way to organize your scales, chords and arpeggios. Instead of having to think about formulas or chord voicings, everything is laid out visually on the fretboard. Using basic chord shapes you’ve known forever.
Because you’re thinking about basic chords you’ve used for years – it becomes pretty simple to fill in the gaps and create the common movable shapes for guitar. You can easily create a barre chord, create an arpeggio, or fill in the gaps and create a major scale.
This gives you a good reference point to keep track of all of your musical stuff – because if you’re simply making something look “kind of like” an E chord, or “kind of like” a G chord…
… you are using an old skill that’s already ingrained as a way to build a new skill.
And this is always a great way to learn new things. If you don’t have to learn everything from scratch, you’ll learn much easier and faster!
Quickly Find Your Next Scale, Chord or Arpeggio
In my first jazz guitar lessons, I learned the CAGED system purely as a way to play jazz guitar chords. My teacher had a different name for it, but it was the same thing.
And here’s the big benefit that he told me about for jazz guitar:
As a jazz guitarist, you potentially have a lot of chords to play. And what this system really lets you do is always have your next chord close at hand.
No matter what you’re playing right now, or what your next chord needs to be. You can always find your next chord shapes within two or three frets.
So for playing jazz guitar, this means you don’t have to move your hand all over the neck to get to your next chord. Which means you’re going to be faster. Once you’re good at finding your chords, you don’t have to work as hard to play the chords for songs.
This is really important in big band playing, because sometimes there will be a chord on every beat – and you don’t have time to move your hand all over the place to find your next chord shape.
You need a chord right there – where your hand already is. And that’s what the CAGED system gives you.
This also applies to your scales and arpeggio patterns in solos. You’ll be able to catch key changes in an instant – because your next key is already under your fingers – without having to move your hand.
Conclusion
The CAGED system is an important part of any guitar player’s toolbox, and it’s used across basically every style of music you can think of.
We even used it in my classical guitar studio when I was in college. We just didn’t call it by the same name.
The guitar is a complicated enough instrument, so It’s important to cut yourself some slack here and there. The CAGED system is a great way to organize yourself on the fretboard, and start relating your new skills to concepts you already know like the back of your hand.
It just makes life easier as a guitar player.
Check out my article on the basics of the CAGED system to learn more.
Do you use the cage system in your playing? Did you already know it but under a different name let me know in the comments.