How to learn the notes of the bass and treble clefs

You may be familiar with the mnemonic (memory aid) “Good Boys Do Fine Always” for the bass clef lines or the word FACE for the treble clef spaces. Forget all those stupid techniques.

To learn the notes of the lines and spaces of both clefs, all you need to do is know how to build 7th and 9th chords. If you don’t know how to build chords then check out these 2 articles of mine:

What Is A Triad? Triads In Music Theory For Guitar
Guitar Chord Names: How To Name Chords

If you do know how to build 7th and 9th chords then the next two sections will show you how to easily remember the bass and treble clef notes

Bass Clef: learn how to build G9 and Am7

Let’s start with the notes of the bass clef. As a guitar player, you will only see this clef if you have sheet music that is labeled as\for “Piano/Vocal/Guitar”.

The bass clef is the clef with the 2 dots on either side of the 2nd staff line from the top. That line is an F note. If you draw two lines from the curvy part to the dots then you can kind of see the letter “F”.

Enough with that. Here are the notes for the lines and spaces of the bass clef:

1. The notes of the lines for the bass clef are the notes in a G dominant 9th chord (G9 = G-B-D-F-A).
2. The notes of the spaces for the bass clef are the notes in an A minor 7 chord (Am7 = A-C-E-G).

Everyone knows how to play an A minor 7th chord. Dominant 9th chords are popular in a lot of genres of music and if you don’t know them  then you should learn them ASAP.

So, how simple was that? No memorizing, no sentences you have to remember. Here are the notes and “chords” for the bass clef:

This is assuming you have a key signature of either C major or A natural minor. If you have a flat or sharp key signature the actual chord names spelled out by the lines and spaces will be different. However, they will still be the same letters.

Get it? Do you understand? It’s as simple as that – G9 and Am7 – DONE!

Treble Clef: learn how to build Em7b9 and Fmaj7

The treble clef is also known as the G-clef since the symbol resembles a cursive capital G.

I started with the bass clef because there is a little bit of an issue with the lines for the treble clef. I’ll explain after I tell you the “chords” and once again assuming C major or A natural minor:

1. The notes of the lines for the treble clef are the notes in an E minor 7 flat 9 chord (Em7b9 = E-G-B-D-F).
2. The notes of the spaces for the treble clef are the notes in an F major 7th chord (Fmaj7 = F-A-C-E).

Let’s handle the easy one. The 7th chord built on the IV in C major is a major 7th chord with the root of F. I’m sure you’ve seen that chord. However, no one, I mean nobody, ever uses a minor 7th chord with a flat 9.

That doesn’t matter. What we are trying to do here is remember the notes for the lines of the treble clef and Em7b9 does that. If you must know, I would call that chord G13/E.

Here are those notes\chords expressed in standard notation:

Final Thoughts

I have no final thoughts for this article other than you can move to another perplexing topic in music, music theory, or guitar playing. You can check off your list trying to remember the notes of the bass and treble clef – you got it now – congratulations!

The post Best Way To Learn The Bass And Treble Clef Notes appeared first on Every Guitar Chord.

What are the fundamentals to learn music theory?

First off, I will assume no music composers are reading this article because composers refer to the 4 elements of music. For the regular singer-songwriter, there are only 3 elements to music: rhythm, harmony, and melody.

I personally believe rhythm is the most important, but it is also the hardest to learn and implement. However, harmony and melody are much easier to learn and complement each other quite well. So if you learn those two elements, then that is two-thirds of the puzzle.

Keep in mind, I will only be covering the basics of these topics. It is up to you to delve deeper into them for greater insights. If you want to learn music theory, then learn these 5 fundamental topics:

1. The Chromatic scale
2. Intervals
3. The 4 triads in music
4. Triads built from the major scale
5. 4-note chords built from the major scale (or any scale).

Hopefully, you’ve noticed the increase in the number of notes in those 5 topics, but let’s cover them briefly one-by-one.

Why the chromatic scale is important

The chromatic scale has every note possible in western music. If you want to know music and music theory then you have to know all the note names. This is the first step and it involves single notes.

The chromatic scale is the scale that has the 12 notes used in music and is often referred to as the ABC’s of music. Here is the scale starting on A and ending on A an octave higher (A’):

Chromatic Scale (Sharps):
A-A#-B-C-C#-D-D#-E-F-F#-G-G#-A’

Chromatic Scale (Flats):
A-Bb-B-C-Db-D-Eb-E-F-Gb-G-Ab-A’

You need to know the order of the notes by heart, forward and backward, and in both the flat and sharp versions. Check out my article Chromatic Scale Notes for Guitar for more insights into the scale and some chromatic exercises for guitar.

Intervals are the key to learning music theory

I feel that music intervals are incredibly important to learning music theory. Once you know all the intervals, then chords, scales, and modes are easy to understand.

Here are the intervals using A as the root which could also be called tonic or 1st:

1. A > Bb = minor 2nd (m2), also called flat 9 (b9)
2. A > B = major 2nd (M2), also called the nine
3. A > C = minor 3rd (m3), also called the flat 3 or b3
4. A > B# = augmented 2nd (A2), also called the sharp 9 (#9), equals m3
5. A > C# = major 3rd (M3), just called the 3 or 3rd
6. A > D = perfect 4th (P4, also called the 4, 4th, 11 or 11th
7. A > D# = augmented 4th (A4) and usually called the sharp 11 (#11), equals a b5
8. A > Eb = diminished 5th (d5), everyone calls it the flat five (b5) or tritone
9. A > E = perfect 5th (P5), called the 5, 5th or dominant
10. A > E# = augmented 5th (A5) and just called the sharp 5 (#5)
11. A > F = minor 6th (m6), called the flat 6 or flat 13 (b6, b13)
12. A > F# = major 6th (M6), called the 6 or 13
13. A > G = minor 7th (m7) usually just called the flat 7 (b7)
14. A > G# = major 7th (M7), called the 7 or major 7

For an in-depth article on the subject read my article Music Intervals which explains in detail terms like augmented, perfect, etc. That article asl covers enharmonic equivalents like the augmented 2nd and minor 3rd.

The 4 triads (How you actually play and write songs)

There are 4 triads in music, though only 2 of them are commonly seen in popular music. But let’s define a triad first.

A triad is a 3-note chord that is built in thirds (refer to the intervals above). What that means is that the 2nd note of a chord is a 3rd away from the 1st note, and the 3rd note in a chord is a 3rd away from the 2nd note. That sounds confusing, doesn’t it?

Or stated another way, a triad is a chord built with the letters/notes that are the 3rd and 5th letters away from the starting note called the 1st or root note. Here are the 4 triads expressed in intervals:

Major triad = Root, major 3rd, perfect 5th

Minor triad = Root, minor 3rd, perfect 5th

Augmented triad = Root, major 3rd, augmented 5th

Diminished triad = Root, minor 3rd, diminished 5th

For a more in-depth view of the triads, read my Triads in Music article.

Triads from the major scale

If you are going to learn only one scale than make it the major scale. Each note from the major scale builds a specific triad and that order is always the same regardless of the ley.

The 1st, 4th, and 5h scale degrees build a major triad. The 2nd, 3rd, and 6th scale degrees all build minor triads, and the 7th scale degree builds a diminished triad. Here is a C major scale with the scale degrees expressed as intervals of the tonic C:

C = the tonic or 1st builds a major triad
D = the major 2nd of C builds a minor triad
E = the major 3rd of C builds a minor triad
F = perfect 4th of C builds a major triad
G = perfect 5th of C builds a major triad
A = major 6th of C builds a minor triad
B = major 7th of C builds a diminished triad

The major scale builds more than just triads

Though there are many great songs that only use triads, you can also build some fantastic 4 and 5 note chords from the major scale. Here are the 7th chords for the scale degrees of the C major scale:

C: C major 7 (Cmaj7)
D: D minor 7 (Dm7)
E: Em7
F: Fmaj7
G: G dominant 7 or G7
A: Am7
B: B half-diminished or Bm7b5 (B minor 7 flat 5)

There are other chords that can be built from the major scale that you should look into. Some of my favorites are 6, add9, m add9, maj9, 9, m add9, sus, sus2, 7sus, and 13sus. Check out my Chords from Scales article for detailed notes on building chords from scales.

Other music theory topics to help you learn music theory

Here is a shortlist of music fundamentals that will help you learn music theory:

• The Circle of 5ths
• Time Signature
• Note subdivision
• Music notation (see my article 7 types of notation for guitar)
• All things rhythm
• *Reading standard notation

The most important reason to learn how to read standard notation is so that you can visualize various rhythmic elements such as ties, rests, sub-divisions, triplets, syncopation, etc.

Final Thoughts

Learn your single notes as your first step to learning music theory. Then increase to 2 notes (intervals), 3 notes (the triads), and finally 4 note chords (7ths and adds). And if you can learn how to build those chords from the major scale then you will have a great grasp on how harmony and melody are related.

Here are a few links if you want an overload of music theory:

Dolmetsch Online

Method Behind The Music

The post Best Way To Learn Music Theory For Beginners appeared first on Every Guitar Chord.

The simplest method to understanding chord names

You can understand all chord names by breaking them down to their core elements. The number of elements in a chord depends on the number of notes in a chord. You can have as little as 2 elements for the simplest triad chords up to 4 elements for the most complex chords.

The 5 elements to any music chord

The maximum number of elements for a chord is 4 but there are 5 possible elements or components to a chord.
Here are those 5 components:

1. Root note – the actual letter denoting the tonality, e.g. A vs. Bb vs. F#.
2. Triad type – Triads are 3-note chords built with the 1st, 3rd and 5th of a 7-note scale or mode. There are only 4 triad types (major, minor, augmented, diminished), but you can also have sus4, sus2 and Maj b5 (base of 7b5 chords).
3. Add notes, if present – the “adds” are notes not in a triad and not the 7th which leaves 3 possible notes: 6, 9, and/or 11.
4. Quality of the seventh, if present. If you have a 7th in a chord then #3 above involving “adds” does not apply because they are covered below. There are 2 main types of 7ths (major or minor) and 1 special case of a diminished 7th.
5. Extended notes, if present. Extended notes are the “add” notes (6, 9, 11) from #3 when they are added to a chord that has a seventh. You may also see those notes altered: b9, #9, #11 and b13.

You either have a 7th or you don’t. So #’s 3 and 4 are mutually exclusive. If you have a 7th then the adds become extensions, and without a 7th the extensions are “add” notes.

Another view of the 5 elements to a chord name

Let’s keep it simple: the letter indicates the key, the rest of the chord name tells you the triad type and what, if any, additional notes are in the chord

Letter + triad + [add(s) or 7th] + extended notes

You’ll see “m” for minor chords, “m” and “b5”  for diminished chords, “sus” for suspended chords, and “#5” for augmented chords. Major chords do not have any indicator unless there is a major 7th in the chord.

There are symbols that are used for various chord types like the triangle for major 7 chords, the superscript circle or “dim” for diminished chords, and the “+” symbol or “aug” for augmented chords. If you see “b5” in a chord without the “m” for minor, then that is a 7b5 chord with the Maj b5 chord as it’s the base chord.

Finally, you may see slash chords such as D/F# or G7/B. Those chord names are just chords with a note in the bass other than the chord root.

That’s it – done! The above descriptions are all you need to name chords. Let’s deconstruct some advanced chord names so you have examples to help you visualize the chord naming process.

Examples of “complex” chord names

Take a look at these 3 chord names and let’s deconstruct them together using the 5 step approach. I’m choosing 3 chords from C major – the scale with all-natural notes.

Fmaj9#11 (Lydian/IV chord)

1. Tonality: F, the root or 1st of the chord
2. Triad type: major
3. Add notes: N/A because there is a 7th
4. Type of 7th: major 7
5. Extensions: major 2nd and augmented 4th or 9 and #11 respectively.

Chord intervals: 1-3-5-7-9-#11

You would verbalize that chord name as “F major thirteen sharp eleven”.

Dm6 add9 or Dm6/9 (Dorian/ii chord in C major)

1. Tonality: D is the root of the chord
2. Triad type: minor
3. Add notes: major 6th and major 2nd also known as the 9th
4. Type of 7th: N/A
5. Extended notes: N/A

Chord intervals: 1-b3-5-6-9

Call this one “D minor 6 add 9”.

G13 (Mixolydian/V chord)

1. Tonality: G, the 1st of the chord
2. Triad type: major
3. Add notes: N/A
4. Type of 7th: minor 7th or b7
5. Extensions: major 6th but it is called the 13 because of the 7th (6+7=13)

Chord intervals: 1-3-5-b7-13

Just call this one ” G thirteen”. Try deconstructing chords like B7sus b9, A#7#5b9 and C13b5#9 for yourself.

The theory behind chord names

You need to know the 4 triad types and the other 3-note chords: sus or sus4, sus2, and Maj b5. Major flat 5 is not really a chord but it is the base of all dominant 7th chords that have a diminished 5th.

The next thing to know is all of your intervals. Lastly, know how to build chords from scales. If you know your intervals, triads and how to build chords from scales then you can build and name any chord.

Check out the following articles of mine for insight into those topics:

Music Intervals

The 4 Triads in Music

Chords From Scales

All Chords From The C Major Scale

Final Thoughts

Keep it simple, just deconstruct the chord name to see what the base chord is. If you are trying to name a chord that you “discovered”, then start stacking the chord tones in thirds to correctly name it yourself. It’s very simple – tonality, base chord type, adds if any, type of 7th if present, and type of extension(s) if present.

Please comment below and share this article if you found it helpful as that helps other musicians find my website.

The post Guitar Chord Names: How To Name Chords appeared first on Every Guitar Chord.

A brief introduction to modes and the pentatonic scale

If you are interested in modes then you should already know your pentatonic scales and the major scale in general. I have a no-nonsense breakdown of the 1st 6 modes of the major scale using the pentatonic.

If you have found modes confusing then get ready to understand them. Let’s build up to that by looking at the chords that can be built from the major pentatonic scale:

Major pentatonic = 1-2-3-5-6.

The scale degrees build the following chords: major triad, 6, add9 and a 6 add9 chord. You can use the major pentatonic built on the 1st of a major chord to solo over any of the chords. Here is the minor pentatonic scale:

Minor pentatonic = 1-b3-4-5-b7

You can build a minor triad, m7 and m11 chord with those scale degrees and you use the minor pentatonic built off the 1st of a minor chord to solo over those chords. If you play blues or rock, you can also apply that scale to major and dominant 7th chords.

Major pentatonic scale to major modes hack

There are 3 major scale modes in the major scale. They each have a major pentatonic associated with them. The same is true for the minor pentatonic and modes, but I’ll cover them in the minor section below.

You can turn any major scale mode into a major pentatonic by removing the 4th and 7th scale/mode degrees. Or you can flip that and turn a major pentatonic scale into a major scale mode by adding the appropriate 4th and 7th scale degrees.

The major scale builds major modes on the 1st, 4th and 5th scale degrees. Read my Music Intervals article if you do not understand any of the intervals listed below. Here is an example for C major but in terms of the pentatonic scale:

C Ionian = C major pentatonic + the P4 and M7 = (C-D-E-G-A) + F + B

The notes F and B (the tritone) are the notes that are missing from the C major pentatonic scale. Or, more importantly, the major pentatonic scales are missing the 4th and 7th of the Ionian mode. The 4th and 7th intervals for the F Lydian mode and G Mixolydian modes are different, hence the different sound for each mode. Here are those scales/modes:

F Lydian = F major pentatonic + A4 and the M7 = (F-G-A-C-D) + B + E

G Mixolydian = G major pentatonic + P4 and m7 = (G-A-B-D-E) + C + F

That’s kind of my hack but not the one I use. I’ll cover what I do below, but let’s cover  the minor pentatonic and minor modes of the major scale.

The minor pentatonic and minor modes of the major scale

Hopefully, you know that every major pentatonic can be turned into it’s relative minor pentatonic. I’ll assume you do so let’s look at Dm, Em and Am pentatonic and the minor modes from the C major scale:

D Dorian = D minor pentatonic + M2 and M6 = (D-F-G-A-C) + E + B

E Phrygian = E minor pentatonic + m2 and m6 = (E-G-A-B-D) + F + C

A Aeolian = A minor pentatonic + M2 and m6 = (A-C-D-E-G) + B + F

So if you know all the pentatonic scale shapes, you just add in the missing mode notes and you get the mode. However, that is easier said than done.

I’ll cover this in a future article, but you should be practicing 3-note minor and major arpeggios. But make sure you recognize each note as either the 1st, 3rd or 5th of the triad. Adding in all the missing mode or pentatonic notes is much easier once you see the triad notes.

So that’s the hack – just making a simple change to the scales you already know. I kind of do that, but I also don’t really do that. Let’s look at the major scales and modes below and I’ll explain.

Major modes abbreviated hack

I like to keep things simple, and as a result, I don’t play the Phrygian or Lydian mode. Okay, maybe the Lydian, but definitely not Phrygian. And I don’t play the full mode – at least not consciously. I practice the major and minor triads and add the related pentatonic scale notes.

For C major/Ionian and F Lydian, I only add the major 7th B and E respectively. What that does for me is it builds a maj7, maj9, maj13, and maj9/13. And for G Mixolydian, I only add the flat 7 F which gets me G7, G9, G13, and G9/13.

If you don’t know those chords, then check out my C major scale chords. You might also want to look at my CAGED System article for a comparison of the pentatonic scales and the triads associated with them.

So all I do is add the major 7th scale degree for the 1 and 4 chords and I add the flat 7 for the 5 chord. That is easy to do because the 7th is behind the tonic – 1 fret for the major 7th and 2 for the flat 7.

“KNOW WHERE YOUR ROOT NOTES ARE!” so sayeth Everyone!

I do make an exception for Lydian because the augmented 4th is so distinctive. But in the beginning, you should keep it simple and just add the missing 7th of each mode.

Here are scale scales for the major pentatonic, Lydian mode and the major pent with the M7 and b7 added. Use the major 7th version to solo over the 1 & 4 chords (C and F) and the b7 version for G7, the V chord. Use the Lydian mode over the IV chord F or as a different sound over the tonic C major.

 

 

 

 

My approach to modes is to just add the missing notes to the pentatonic scales. For the major pentatonic, I’m definitely adding the 7th and I will add the 4th as I see it. However, first I am focusing on the base triad, then the major pentatonic. Adding the 7th and 4th then occurs naturally for me as I see those notes or want to add them.

If you just add the missing notes while playing a pentatonic it will really move you to the next level of playing. Give it a try – I’m sure you will agree.

Minor pentatonic and the Dorian mode

Similar to the Lydian mode, the Dorian mode has a distinctive interval – the major 6th. This is definitely a mode you want to play in full. You can play the minor pentatonic with just the major 2nd added, but that major 6th is worth learning when you want the Dorian sound.

The minor pentatonic is missing the same notes at its relative major pentatonic. For A minor, that would be the notes B & F, the major 2nd and minor 6th respectively. When you only add the major 2nd then you get the additional sounds of a minor add 9 and a m9 chord.

In my opinion, don’t bother learning the Phrygian mode. You can if you want to in the future, but keep it simple for now. If you really want to experiment, then just play the b9 1 fret in front of the root/tonic note.

Here are the scale shapes for the minor pentatonic, the minor pent with the Major 2nd and the full Dorian mode. Remember, the Dorian mode is just the minor pentatonic with the m2 and M6 added.

I label the M2 as 9 instead. of 2 on the scale blocks – I always think in terms of chord names. You can use the minor pentatonic with the major 2nd to play over chords built on the 2nd and 6th scale degrees unless it is a minor 6 (Dorian chord).

 

 

 

 

So just drop in the major 2nd for a nice addition to your minor pentatonic scale shapes. If you want the full Dorian sound then add the major 6th as well. For Aeolian, add the b6. You can visualize the major 6th as 1 fret behind the b7 or 2 frets above the perfect 5th and the minor 6th is 1 fret above the perfect 5th.

The Locrian mode and Locrian pentatonic

I can’t skip the last mode of the major scale without an easy hack. The mode built on the leading tone of the major scale is known as Locrian and has the following intervals using B as an example:

B Locrian = B-C-D-E-F-G-A-B = 1-b9-b3-4-b5-b6-b7

There are 3 chords that you can build from the mode, all of which are used as substitutions for a dominant 7th chord though the m11b5 is only see in jazz:

dim triad = 1-b3-b5 = rootless V7, e.g. G7 no root = Bdim
m7b5 = 1-b3-b5-b7 = rootless V9 chord, e.g. G9 no root = Bm7b5
m11b5 = 1-b3-b5-b7-11 = rootless V9/13 chord, e.g. G9/13 no root = Bm11b5

You should know that the blues scale is the minor pentatonic with the b5 added. If you play a blues scale without the perfect 5th then that is known as the Locrian pentatonic.

If you build that pentatonic on B, the major 3rd of a G major chord, that gives you a B Locrian pentatonic which has all the notes in a Bm11b5 chord. Just drop the F# from a B blues scale and you have a great scale to play over G7 chords.

Final Thoughts

Try just adding either the major 7th or the b7 to the major pentatonic for an Ionian, Lydian and Mixolydian sound. Add the major 9th to the minor pentatonic for a richer minor scale. That simple hack will really make a difference to your lead playing. And don’t ignore the Lydian and Dorian modes as they are fantastic modes to use.

Download this image as a reminder of how the modes are related to the pentatonics. Remember, a major pentatonic has all the notes in a 6 add9 chord, while the minor pentatonic scale has the notes of a m11 chord.

The post The Pentatonic Scale And Major Scale Modes appeared first on Every Guitar Chord.

I cover 70+ music symbols and their meanings grouped by category: general, directions, time & rhythm, dynamics, and guitar chords and techniques, and ornamentation.

Music symbols geared towards guitarists

There are a lot of different music symbols and abbreviations that communicate how to play a song or composition. As a guitar player, you may think this is academic stuff not worth your time, but being aware of these concepts & techniques can only make you a better player.

If you are a natural and you have the “feel”, then you don’t need to know anything in this article or any music theory for that matter. For the rest of us, like myself, awareness of music concepts leads to creativity and some nice chops.

I would give examples from my songbooks for some of the symbols listed, but it would be too extensive to notate the actual measures and notes involved. Hopefully, you have your own songbooks to see examples and understand how they are used and why.

Make sure to read my Guitar Notation article to see all the ways you can notate music for the guitar.

General music symbols

The following music symbols are general symbols for an entire song or composition. These are the structure or backbone for which all other symbols are added.

1. Staff (stave): This is the foundational element of music notation. The staff is the graphic of 5 lines and 4 spaces on which notes are placed for communication of a musical composition. Standard notation refers to the use of staff for music notation. The image below also has Guitar Tablature which has 6 lines that represent the six guitar strings (low E at the bottom).

2. Clef: A clef is a music symbol that defines the note values of the lines and spaces of the staff. There are 3 different symbols that represent the 3 types of clefs: G clef (Treble clef, in the image below), C clef (Alto & Tenor clefs), and F clef (Bass clef). The clef is the first symbol on the staff.

3. Key Signature: this is the next symbol that appears after the clef unless the key is C major / A minor. Key Signatures display a number of sharps or flats that indicate the overall key of the piece. The purpose is to minimize the use of accidentals on the staff. For example, the key of F major has a key signature of a single flat for B♭. Any note on any “B” line or space should be played as B♭ not B natural.

4. Ledger Lines: These are the short lines above and/or above the staff for pitches outside the range of the pitches defined by the clef. For example, the open E and A on the guitar would appear on ledger lines (see image below).

5. 8va, 8vb: These symbols are used to play the affected note(s) one octave higher (8va) than indicated or one octave lower (8vb). This notation reduces the need for many ledger lines making the notes easier to read.

All of these symbols are important in reading sheet music with maybe the exception of 8va/8vb.

General music symbols (measures, sections)

These following symbols apply to smaller sections within a score.

6. Barline: The vertical lines that show the beginning and end of each measure as defined by the time signature. They may also extend to additional staves as in piano sheet music, or for the guitar tab in the image.

7. Measure: the section of the staff that falls between 2 barlines.

8. Double Barline: Used to separate sections of music (verse, chorus, bridge, coda, intro, etc.) or when there is a change in time signature. There is just 2 barlines next to each other.

9. Bold double barlines: Two bold barlines (1 thick, 1 thin) used to indicate the ending for the entire composition.

10. Dashed Barline: Used to mark divisions within a bar such as long measures to make them easier to read or as a sub-division of the measure due to complex rhythms. I have a rhythm training book that uses them for some of the exercises.

11. Brace: Used with the extended barline for multiple staves (looks like a curly bracket) in a musical system. Common with piano sheet music where the treble and bass clefs are part of the system.

12. Bracket: Similar to a brace but used for different staves that are not dependent. If you are a guitar player, then you will most likely never see this one. It looks like a square bracket.

13. Volta Bracket: Used when a repeated section has alternate endings. You will often see them with vocal melodies that change at the end of verses for popular songs.

The most important music symbols to know for reading sheet music are all the barlines and measure. That’s the end of the general music symbols for n entire piece or for many measures or sections.

General music symbols w\in measures

The following music symbols are a little less general and are focusing on individual notes within measures.

14-15. Double flats, Double Sharps: These are accidentals that raise notes by a whole tone. I see no need for either a double sharp or double flat except for altered chords or for chords not part of a key signature. A perfect example would be a 7#9 chord on the V of a harmonic minor scale, such as E7#9 in A harmonic minor. The F natural note would need a double sharp accidental to notate the F## (G) note.

16. Accidentals (Flat, Sharp, Natural): A flat, sharp or natural (♭, ♯, ♮) used in the notation is for any note(s) that are not in the key signature. They are used to modify the pitch by a semitone of the notes that follow them within a measure. They can extend into the next measure via a tie. The natural symbol is used to remove the sharp or flat indicated by the key signature and to play the natural letter note, or to cancel a previous accidental (sharp or flat). All 3 symbols are in the 4th measure of the image above this section.

17. 1/4 tone sharp or flat: The fancy name for the ¼ tone sharp is demisharp, but for guitarists, it’s called either a microtone bend or curl. It’s less than a half-step bend, or ~ quarter step bend. There is also the demiflat which lowers a note by a quarter tone. I’m not aware of a technique on the guitar that would noticeably lower a note by a ¼ tone.

Accidentals are important, not so much for the other symbols.

Directions/Instructions symbols

Some directions are simple like “Repeat and fade”. You may also see “No Chord” (N.C) though a chord is suggested. However, the following music symbols definitely need explanation.

1. Repeat signs: You see repeat signs when there is a measure, multiple measures or a section that is to be repeated. Repeat signs are bold double bar lines that have a double vertical dot symbol. Normally there are two repeat signs: the open/begin repeat, and the close/end repeat. You may only see the end-repeat sign which means to go back to the beginning of the song or to the nearest double bar.

2. Simile marks: These are used to repeat the preceding measure.

3. al fine: Literally means “to the end” where you play to the end of the music and used with Da Capo or Dal Segno.

4. al coda: This means to play to the Coda sign and used with Da Capo or Dal Segno.

3. Coda: I’ll quote Wikipedia here because their definition is the best:

Indicates a forward jump in the music to its ending passage, marked with the same sign. Only used after playing through a D.S. al coda (Dal segno al coda) or D.C. al coda (Da capo al coda).

4. Segno: symbol used with Dal Segno.

5. Da Capo: Means “from the top” and is used to signal a repeat to the end of the music and stop (D.C al fine) or to repeat to the Coda sign (D.C. al coda) and then to jump forward in the piece. Confusing? I know. Find sheet music of a song you know that uses it and you’ll understand.

6. Dal Segno: Means “from the sign” and is used to repeat playing from the nearest Segno sign. Similar to Da Capo, it is written as D.S. al fine or D.S. al coda.

Direction symbols summary

I’m going to assume that you found the above direction notation confusing as I did. Here is the actual text that you may see:

D.C. al coda: means return to the beginning and play to the Coda sign then skip to next Coda sign to continue playing.
D.C. al fine: return to the beginning and play to the end.
D.S. al fine: means return to Segno sign and play to the end.
D.S. al coda: return to Segno and continue to Coda sign then jump to Coda.

If you know the song you are learning from sheet music, then none of these symbols or text are necessary to know and understand.

I mostly see D.S. al coda in my songbooks, so that will probably be the same for you. Here is the process of D.S. al coda:

1. If there are any repeats (verses) before the Coda or Segno symbols, play them as normal.
2. When you encounter the first Coda symbol, keep playing until you encounter D.S. al coda, then…
3. …Go to the (first) Segno symbol and play until you reach the first Coda symbol.
4. Jump to the next Coda symbol to continue playing.

This is so much harder to explain via text than to get sheet music and play along. I have the Grateful Dead Anthology but the songs with D.S. al coda do not have a friggin’ Segno symbol. Luckily, I know the songs. That is not the case with my book The Beatles / 1967-1970 where he Segno symbol is shown.

Dynamics music symbols

Sorry for stating with the difficult stuff, but now we are getting into the music symbols for playing!

The following symbols have to deal with the volume of the music. You may see words or abbreviations for the words instead of actual symbols. This quality of music, in general, is known as dynamics.

1. Accented note: The note with this symbol is played louder than surrounding notes.

2. Crescendo: An increase in volume as you play the notes.
3. Decrescendo: A decrease in volume for the notes to be played.

4. Swell: An increase in volume followed by a decrease. Basically, a crescendo followed by a decrescendo.

5. Nuances: Words or abbreviations that range from extremely soft (pianississimo, ppp) to extremely loud (fortississimo, fff). More often you will see symbols in the middle volume range: p, mp, mf, f.

I’d say accented notes are important to use for your originals, but the others are less important but it’s good to be aware of your options.

Time: Tempo, rhythm, & duration symbols

Some sheet music will have additional words at the beginning of the score or song such as “Moderately”, “bright”, “Latin feel”, etc. You may also see the words Adagio, Moderato, Allegro, Vivace and others. I’m skipping all of those since they are words, not symbols.

The measure symbol mentioned above is the container of the notes that equal the value of the time signature. The following 4 symbols indicate the beat, tempo, rhythm, etc.

1. Time Signature: This is the last element you will see at the beginning of the staff, after the clef and key signature (1st image, 6/8). It defines the meter/count for the piece as contained in each measure.

Meter is the pattern of beats within each measure. What that means is that the time signature shows how many beats there are per measure and the duration (note value) of each beat. For example, 6/8 time has 6 beats per measure each with the value of an eighth note. The time signatures of 4/4 and 2/2 are also called Common time and Cut time respectively (images below). Just remember, the top # is the number of beats, the bottom # is the value of each beat.

2. Metronome Mark: Usually at the beginning, it defines the actual tempo of the music where the tempo is the speed of the piece. See the first image where the tempo is expressed as 𝅘𝅥 = 120.

3. Accelerando & ritardando: these words indicate a gradual speeding up of the tempo (accel.) or slowing down (rit.). There are no symbols, just the abbreviations and I don’t see them in my songbooks.

4. Triplet & Tuplet: a triplet is a subdivision of 3 of the beat or a portion of the beat, whereas a tuplet is a subdivision different from that suggested by the time signature. A triplet is a form of a tuplet. See the image below for an example of a triplet.

You absolutely must understand time signatures and triplets. Speeding up or slowing down are nice effects for song endings but it would be difficult to pull-off within a song. Although, a great drummer and bass player would help with tempo alterations. Take a look at my article on Songs not in 4/4 time for examples of other time signatures.

Actual note symbols

These are the symbols that refer to the actual pitches to be played (C, B♭, G#, etc.) and their duration.

5. Notes: Note values refer to how long they last within each measure as defined by the time signature. The whole note is the note used as a reference for all other notes. A whole note lasts the length of one measure regardless of the time signature. It takes two ½ notes to equal one whole note, four ¼ notes to equal a whole note, eight 1/8 notes to equal a whole note, etc. Or you could say 2 quarter notes equal a half note, and so on.

6. Noteheads: Every note has a head or circle shape. A whole note is only a note head.

7. Stems: Every note from a half note and shorter have a vertical stem that extends above or below the note head.

8. Flags and Beams: Eighth notes and greater have flags, where an 1/8th note has one flag, a 16th has 2 flags, etc. Multiple notes of an eighth or greater next to each other have beans connecting them in place of their flags. They don’t always have beams, but that involves rests, time signatures, beats, etc. Don’t worry if you do not alays see beams.

You must understand all of these symbols to read sheet music. It’s also important for guitar tab where the sheet music is above it. You can’t express rhythm in tab so it’s important to know the length of notes and the symbols below.

Music symbols for increases in the duration of note values

The following symbols indicate increases to the length or performance of the note(s) played.

9. Dotted notes: A dot next to a note adds half of the value of the note. For example, a dotted 1/4 note adds an 1/8th to it. A double dot add 3/4 of the value, e.g., a dotted 1/4 = 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16.

10. Tie: A tie adds together the value of the notes tied. For example, two 1/8th notes tied equal one 1/4 note. You can also tie notes of different note values together, such as a quarter and eighth note which can also be expressed as a dotted 1/4 note. Ties are used between notes of the same pitch (note name). The same symbol is used for slurs (see ornamentation) which occur with notes of different pitch.

11. Fermata: This symbol is used to sustain a note or chord longer than the designated note value, usually twice the note value. Basically, it’s a sustain, like a chord that rings out. It’s a nice effect that bands employ.

You must know dotted notes and ties to read sheet music and to understand rhythm.

Decreases in the duration of note value

These music symbols are used to decrease note values in one way or another.

12. Rests: These symbols replace their corresponding note values and indicate no notes are to be played – no sound. See examples in the image under Actual Note Symbols above.

13. Dotted rests: A dot next to a note or rest adds half of the value of the note/rest, similar to dotted notes. For example, a dotted1/4  note or rest adds an 1/8th to it. A double dot adds 3/4 of the value, e.g., a dotted 1/4 rest = 1/4 + 1/8 rest.

14. Grace note: A very short note before another note, usually before a melody note. It is a smaller-sized note and is quite common. These notes may also be called Acciaccatura or Appoggiatura. A variation is known as a Smear – a super quick slide from below your target note.

15. Staccato: This indicates that the note should be played shorter than the note value, often half the duration with a rest for the rest of the note value. For guitar, this is when you will lift off a chord after each strum for a shuffle feel.

16. Caesura: This is actually a pause in the music where the beats are not counted. I don’t see this one in my songbooks, but it’s basically when everyone just stops and the result is silence.

Rests and dotted rests are important to understand. I think staccato and grace notes re important, but caesura is less important IMO.

In my opinion, it’s the rhythm of your chords and solos that makes for great music – not the actual notes.

Guitar technique (right-hand articulation)

The following are various ways to actually play notes on the guitar. Not all of them have symbols but these methods are how you make noise known as music on a guitar.

1. Fingerpicking/fingerstyle: You either see PIMA (thumb, index, middle, ring) or T1234 (thumb, index, middle, ring, pinky) to represent which right-hand fingers to use for the various notes.

2. Pick strokes, Flatpicking: Using a guitar pick is the alternative to fingerstyle guitar. There is no symbol for using a pick to sound the strings though you may see symbols to indicate down and upstrokes in guitar tab.

3. Hybrid picking: This is a hybrid of fingerstyle and Flatpicking and is commonplace in country and bluegrass guitar, though musicians of any style will use it. You may see the Flatpicking down and upstroke symbols along with “m” (middle) or “a” (ring) to indicate hybrid picking is required.

4. Harmonics: In case you are not aware, you can play harmonic notes by lighting touching the strings at nodal points. The round note heads for harmonic notes are replaced by diamond shapes and may be seen with the 8va notation.

You should know all of these methods as well as other variations in playing notes.

Chord symbols

This is a relatively simple section dealing with the different methods of playing chords.

1. Chord (Symbol & Diagram): Chords are notated as notes stacked on top of each indicating to play all the notes at the same time. You will also see either the chord symbol/name or a chord diagram.

2. Arpeggiated Chord: A chord with notes played in rapid succession, usually ascending (downstroke) but can be descending (upstroke), each note being sustained throughout the stroke. It is also called a “broken chord” or “rolled chord”. This is not the same as an arpeggio (see ornamentation section). The symbols are an up or down arrow similar to brush strokes.

3. Rasgueado: A Flamenco guitar strumming technique that uses the fingers (downstrokes) or thumb (upstrokes) to strum chords using the fingernails. There is just an abbreviation of “rasg.” instead of a symbol. Don’t bother with this one – it sounds weird.

4. Brushstroke: A brushstroke is similar to Rasguedo but you use the flesh part of the finger for a softer dynamic and uses arrows but smaller than arpeggiated arrows. Skip this technique as well plus I’m not sure how you notate it.

Forget about brush strokes and Rasgueado unless you are into flamenco.

Guitar percussive techniques

The following are techniques that produce sound but not from pitches, though you will hear the pitch slightly with some of the techniques. They involve either using the strings or an acoustic guitar body to make the percussive sounds.

The techniques that may sound an actual pitch are the dead note effects: ghost note, palm mutes, and rakes. You will notice this if you hold a barre chord to mute strings, strum and then move the chord to a different position. You should hear the difference in pitch.

1. Ghost-Note: a dead note made by muting the string played with either the palm of your picking hand or the fingers of your fretting hand.

2. Palm Mute: This is when you use the palm of your picking hand to muffle or mute the strings that you are playing.

3. Rake: This is often 2 dead or ghost notes before playing a note. It’s common to be played as a triplet where the first 2 beats of the triplet are dead notes.

4. Pickscrape: This is when you use your pick to scrape against the metal windings on the bass strings, either up or down.

5. Golpe: The term Golpe is when you use your finger(s) to tap on the guitar body just below the soundhole at the end of strum. Variations of the technique are when you use your fingers, thumb and/or palm to hit various parts of the guitar body for different sounds. I am not sure how the variations involving hitting the guitar body are notated.

6. Pop or Snap: This is when you pull a string away from the fretboard and let it snap back making a “pop” sound. Not sure how this is notated.

7. Slap: This is when you use your thumb or palm of your picking hand to slap the bass strings. Use this technique in between normal chord strums as a rhythmic device. It’s another version of a dead note. Not sure how this one is notated.

The best percussive effects are ghost notes, muting, rakes, and pick scrapes. Golpe, pops, slaps, snaps are cool but I chose the guitar as my instrument, not drums.

Guitar ornamental embellishments

I saved the best for last. These are the techniques that most guitar players are familiar with. I will briefly cover them and show some of the music symbols, but I will be writing an in-depth article on all these embellishments.

Single note embellishments

There are only two guitar embellishments that involve a single note: Tremolo and Vibrato.

1. Tremolo: Extremely rapid up and down strokes of a single note. You want to play as fast as possible.

2. Vibrato: Involves using the fretting hand to slightly vary the pitch of a note. It is a very slight string bend.

Double note embellishments

The effects involving two notes are hammer-on, pull-off, trill, tapping, string bends, and slides.

3. Hammer-on: Played by striking a note and then hammering onto a higher-pitched note to sound the second note.

4. Pull-Off: A pull-off is the reverse of a hammer-on and is when you play the first note and then pull off to sound the second note. Hammer-ons and pull-offs are often used together, so they can be multi-note effects

5. Trill: Similar to a tremolo but with two notes via repeated hammer-ons and pull-offs.

6. Tapping: This is a hammer-on technique but where you use your picking hand to hammer-on any note on a string. It makes possible hammer-ons of intervals greater than your fretting hand can make.

7. String Bends: This is when you pluck a note then push or pull the string to sound a higher pitch note. There are variations like the pre-bend and release.

8-10. Slides (Glissando, Portamento): A slide is when you play one note and slide up or down to another note. You can either slide to the 2nd note and let it ring or slide and pick the 2nd note. There are 2 other subtle slide variations: Glissando and Portamento.

Glissando is a quick large interval slide where you do not hear the individual notes as distinct

Portamento is a slow large interval slide where you do hear the individual notes between the first note and final note.

Read my Guitar String Bend Map article for some more examples and insights into bends.

Multiple note embellishments

There are 3 embellishments in this group: arpeggio, mordent, and gruppetto.

11. Arpeggio. This is when you play the notes of a chord individually in the order of thirds such as 1-3-5-7 for a major 7th chord. This is not the same as an arpeggiated chord.

12. Mordent: This is a 4-note riff in the pattern of target note + upper neighboring note + lower neighboring note + target note. Or you could reverse the upper and lower. For example, with an A note as the target note, you would play A-B-G#-A or A-G#-B-A. The neighboring notes are often notated as grace notes with short duration.

13. Gruppetto / Turn: Similar to a Mordent but the neighboring note is played first. Using the example for A above you would either play B-A-G#-A or G#-A-B-A.

I like every single embellishment listed above with the exception of tapping.

Other embellishments

Here are some other soloing techniques that aren’t specifically mentioned or are examples using some of the music symbols in this article. I’ll briefly mention them here but look for my embellishments article where I cover in detail all the ornamental techniques.

A) Sustained notes – allowing a note, interval or chord to ring out. This can be notated as a Fermata or with ties and dotted notes. The creative point is to use sustained notes for interest and variety. Electric guitar players would allow a note to sustain and cause feedback.

B) Rip – a super fast riff. This is basically a flurry of 32nd notes.

C) Sul ponticello – “at the bridge” and means to play the strings close to the bridge which creates a sound described as bright, thin, or high pitched.

D) Sul tasto – “over fingerboard” and means to play over the fretboard for a tone that is described as thick, phat, rich, etc.

E) Use of silence – this is the opposite of sustained notes and would be notated with rests or a caesura. Continue until it makes sense to rash back into the song.

F) Distortions of tempo or meter – this is playing what appears as erratic rhythmic phrases, such as speeding up, slowing down or anything similar that adds interest.

G) Imitation of the voice – easier said than done, especially for an acoustic guitar but think call and response as one method. One option would be to use a steel or glass slide to mimic a singer.

Final Thoughts

Reading standard notation is not that hard once you know what all the music symbols mean. Knowing and understanding all the duration elements will only help your playing. And knowing all the techniques and embellishments should make your originals sound interesting as opposed to common. Start with the easier music symbols and add to your knowledge base each month.

Check out the following two links for a comprehensive list of music symbols:

Wikipedia List of musical symbols

Chart of musical symbols – Dolmetsch online

The post Music Symbols and Meanings (Guitar) appeared first on Every Guitar Chord.

I cover point by point the practical applications and strengths of the CAGED system, while also mentioning the main problem of the system and how to avoid that pitfall.

CAGED System: Guitar chords, scales, arpeggios, …

At its most basic, the CAGED system enables you to play every kind of chord in every key along the entire fretboard. But there is way more to the system that just chords. Visualizing the 5 chords enables you to play scales in various positions, tie those positions together, move from position to position, and much more.

Below I cover the applications of the CAGED system: chords, intervals, chord partials, triad arpeggios, scales and modes, and how to tie all those things together.

The 5 chords of “CAGED”

The most common application of the CAGED system is the ability to play any open chord as a closed chord shape in different positions along the fretboard and in different keys. Actually, it’s the ability to play any chord, nit just open chords. Some chords can’t be played in open voicings.

But first, let’s define the various chord voicings:

Open chord: a guitar chord with at least one open string in the voicing.
Closed chord: a guitar chord that does not have ANY open strings in the voicing.
Barre chord: a specific type of a closed guitar chord where 1 or more fingers are used to fret 2 or more notes.

The letters in “CAGED” are for the 5 open major chords: C, A, G, E, and D major. I assume you know how to play those chords. The shapes of those 5 chords can be played as closed chords for two different purposes:

1. To play the same chord but higher up the neck, e.g. open A major at the 2nd fret and A major at the 5th fret as an E barre chord shape.
2. Or to play a major chord in any of the 12 keys.

And don’t think that CAGED is only for major chords. Here is a list of basic open A chords that you should know:

A, A6, A7, Amaj7, Am, Am7, Asus4, and Asus2

Those open chords are all in the “A” position/shape of the acronym CAGED. You could also play those chords as closed chords in the C, G, E and D positions/voicings, although, not of those chords are possible in the other positions.

The point is that you can turn any open chord into a closed chord in the same key, or different keys, anywhere along the fretboard. And the pattern of always moves in the order of C-A-G-E-D-C-A-G-E-D, etc. That is the CAGED system and it is excellent for beginners.

EVERYTHING IS MOVABLE!

Main points of CAGED

What is the main benefit of the CAGED system?
It breaks you out of the open chord position. Open chords lock you into the first few frets.

What is the main problem with the CAGED system?
It locks you into a new position – all the closed positions. There is an easy fix to breaking out of the CAGED position problem and that is by playing inversions of triad arpeggios.

What you gain is the ability to play more types of chords than you can in the open position. The word “cage” is interesting. The CAGED system frees you from only playing open chords, but can lock you up again into position playing. Or at least that is what happened to me.

There is a reason why the letters are CAGED and not in a different order, and that is because the chords move in that pattern. Though you can switch which letter starts that pattern like EDCAG or AGEDC.

After the open C chord (x-3-2-0-1-0) is a closed C major as an A shape, then as a G shape, then as an E shape, then as a D shape, and finally a repeat of the open C major as a closed C major at the 12th through 15th frets. For E major, the first closed chord shape after the open E shape is D, then C, then A, etc.

The CAGED system isn’t only for chords, but also for chord partials, intervals, scales, arpeggios, licks, bass lines, you name it. Here are the closed chord voicings for the 5 CAGED major triad shapes. Note where the root note is. Just move that root to any key you want to play. Always know where your root and tonic notes are!

 

Movable scales using the CAGED system

Below are the 5 CAGED positions for both the major and minor pentatonic, but this works for any scale. Some people think that the CAGED system is only for major chords – they’re wrong.

Next to each pentatonic, I have a major and minor chord that you can see within the scale. So try sliding to another position to play a different chord voicing or to do a simple riff from the pentatonic scale in a different position. That’s really all it is – using the different positions to move around the neck.

Let’s take a look at the pentatonic scale and how it is really an arpeggio.

Scales equal chords & vice versa

Did you know that the pentatonic scales are also chords/arpeggios? The major pentatonic is a 6 add9 chord, while the minor pentatonic is a minor 11 chord. Let’s look at the 3 major and relative minor scales from C major (no sharps or flats):

C major pentatonic scale = C-D-E-G-A = the notes in a C6 add9 chord (C-E-G-A-D)
F major pentatonic scale = F-G-A-C-D = F6 add9 chord (F-A-C-D-G)
G major pentatonic scale = G-A-B-D-E = G6 add9 chord (G-B-D-E-A)

Those scales equal the minor pentatonic scales for Am, Dm, and Em. The minor 11 chord is just a minor 7th with the perfect 4th added.

A minor pentatonic = A-C-D-E-G = Am11 (A-C-E-G-D)
D minor pentatonic = D-F-G-A-C = Dm11 (D-F-A-C-G)
E minor pentatonic = E-G-A-B-D = Em11 (E-G-B-D-A)

I mention the 6 add9 and the m11 chords because you can use the pentatonic scale over are a lot of chords: Maj triad, 6, add9, min triad, and m7. There are also a number of sus chords that can be built from the pentatonic scales: sus2, sus4, 7sus, and 9sus.

Remember, the root note for scales and chords in any CAGED position is always in the same spot. And it’s easy to tack on the b7 or major 7 for additional arpeggios or licks.

Here are the major pentatonic scales with a simple major triad associated with that position. Instead of starting with C, I’ll start with E then follow the CAGED pattern – D, C, A and finally G. I show the intervals in the scales but fingers in the chord blocks. Check out my Music Intervals article if you do not know your intervals.

 

 

 

 

Here are the minor pentatonic scales and associate simple minor triads:

 

 

 

 

Using CAGED to spice up a diatonic chord progressions

It sounds great when you can play a chord in 2 or 3 different positions with some riffs thrown in. When I first started playing blues, I would play dominant 7ths in different positions – everywhere. Usually, just quick 7th or dim triads over the I7 or IV7 chords when I had an extra measure or two to mess around.

Here is an example of just playing an A major chord in different positions and throwing in some simple licks. Note, I’m still honing my GuitarPro timing and rhythm skills – the note values are off a little, but it should give you an idea of how and why to move around to different positions.

The 1st measure is just an open A major chord then I slide from the major 2d to major 3rd to set up a major 6th riff. The C# to A is just 2 notes of the A major chord in the E voicing.

Then I hammer from the root A to the major 2nd B and go into a slide to C# to play an A major in the D shape. Finally, I walk up the A major pentatonic with the major 7th thrown in to slide from a G# to A for an octave of A in the C voicing.

You could do something similar but try an Am or A7 chord instead. And instead of ending with a resolve to A you could go to the IV chord D for some D chords in different positions with riffs. Or go any other chord in A major like F#m or E7.

The point is to use the chords and scales to move around the neck and make music. In the process, you start to visualize the entire fretboard.

Using CAGED in the Blues

I had to show a simple TAB of riffing on a dominant 7th chord. Classic blues have 4 measures of the I chord followed by 2 measures of the IV chord. For a slow tempo blues tune, that is a lot of time and space you can fill. Here is a chordal example using an E7 chord:

You can see I start out with a simple E7 open chord then on the last beat I slide to a D7 shape E7 at the 4th fret. That is actually a G# diminished chord which is a great substitute for E7 but I’ll skip that for now. I do the same thing in the 2nd measure but go to an E7 in the G position. Measure 3 is the same as measure 1 but I start a riff on the 2nd beat and have that take me to A7 in the 5th measure.

Chords, scales, riffs, arpeggios, whatever you want. Try the same thing but try blues in D and do chordal or all riffs, just move around. You have to know where the root notes are!

Simple recap of CAGED

Let me cover the reasons to learn the CAGED system simple bullet points:

• If you are a beginner guitar player, the CAGED system allows you to play all the open chord shapes as closed shapes at any fret on the guitar. It breaks you out of the open positions.
• If you are a beginner to an intermediate player starting to learn scales and modes, then it gives you easy scale patterns that repeat in the same order as chords – C-A-G-E-D.
• If you are an intermediate to advanced player, then you are probably moving to different “positions” by moving to chord tones – like the roots, 3rds and 5ts also in the CAGED positions.

When you get to the advanced level mentioned in the last point, you probably aren’t thinking CAGED anymore but instead are focusing on chord tones. Until you get to that level, the CAGED system is extremely useful.

Final Thoughts

The CAGED system is a fantastic tool for any beginner guitar player. In time, you will find that you can get locked into closed positions just like open chords lock you into the first few frets. That’s a small price to pay to start moving around the entire fretboard. If you do find yourself getting locked into position playing, then use arpeggios to slide into different positions. Give the CAGED system a try. If you don’t like it then consider the 3-notes-per-string method for lead playing, or lock yourself in a woodshed for 3-6 months. Your choice.

Check out the lessons on the the CAGED positions on Justin Sandercoe’s site. He’s great – I’ve been watching his YouTube videos for years.

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