CAGED System PDF: 3 Harmonic Layers of the Major Scale

Charts to help you learn the CAGED system for guitar and approach each of its patterns gradually by adding in more harmonic information.

Visual appearance

5 CAGED patterns are presented as 3 incremental harmonic layers:

(1) root triad chord tones
(2) major pentatonic tones
(3) full Major scale

Each next layer adds extra notes to the previous layer until each CAGED shape has all notes of the Major scale. The CAGED shapes on this reference are aligned with the notes of the C-Major scale in particular. So:

Playing triad only tones will give you notes of the C-Major chord.
Playing pentatonic layer will give you notes of the C-Major pentatonic scale.
And playing the full scale version will give you notes of the full C-Major scale.

Squares represent scale root notes. Circles and squares with a darker fill are root triad tones and circles with a lighter fill are the rest notes of the given layer. This reference features flat style notes (empty circles). Even though it's intended for more seasoned guitar players, it's here as a variation that you simply might prefer over the other options.

All diagrams come in 2 flavors: 13 frets and 22 frets. 13-fret version favors the 5 CAGED shapes without repetition while the other one features CAGED shapes across the entire fretboard, repeating all 5 patterns almost twice and thus unlocking all shapes' connection points and not just in the first half of the fretboard.

Unlike in the case with separate diagrams these show you how each of the 5 CAGED shapes connects to the next one like a puzzle while still visualizing the intersection points with the help of overlapping horizontal bars above the fretboard diagrams. Each such bar spans only as many frets as it is required to make up a single CAGED shape.

Practical application

You can think of these layers as notes which:

(1) make up the chord
(2) are next to the chord
(3) are harmonically more distant from the chord (in other words, moving from consonant notes to less consonant notes in relation to the root triad tones)

What this practically means is that this separation lets you target these layers individually and evoke the right effect at the right time when you're soloing. Alternatively, you can simply visually observe and study how notes of each next layer are superimposed on the notes of the previous layer, or vice versa, how notes of the previous layer "fit" into the next layer and how all layers ultimately form the CAGED pattern.

Tip: Notice that the C-shape on the 12th fret repeats the C-shape of the 0-fret (i.e. open C-shape built from the nut of the guitar). CAGED is a 5-pattern system—the whole series of patterns repeat every 5 patterns, like a loop, and the second diagram shows that very clearly.

Why is this relevant?

Well, that tells you that you don't need to memorize notes across all 24 frets of the guitar fretboard—you just need to learn what's in the 1st half (12 frets) of the fretboard and the 2nd half mirrors the first one.

Furthermore, it tells you that this half is split into 5 distinct "slices"—not 4, not 8, but 5. So, the idea here is—the fewer patterns, the easier it is to memorize the scale(s) across the entire fretboard. Take your time to observe this for yourself on the full-fretboard version of this chart.

Tip: Since these diagrams have blank circles in place of specific note names or intervals, you can view this chart as a recipe for any major scale, not just C-Major. The patterns will be identical for all major keys.

For example, to get CAGED patterns for the G-Major scale you just need to align the E-shape's (pattern 1) root tone with the 3rd fret of the lowest 6th string (you can also align the G-shape with the 3rd fret of the 6th string, but then you'll have to play the pattern with open strings—not that you have to avoid it, but I'm just saying).

The order of CAGED patterns never changes, and it's the same as the CAGED-word is spelled. So for our G-Major example the next shape towards the guitar's bridge would be D-shape, and the previous shape towards the guitar's nut would be the G-shape.