CAGED (dominant) seventh chord shapes

With the CAGED system for (dominant) seventh chords you can play any seventh chord in five different positions on the guitar fretboard. If you haven't already, please have a look at the introduction of the CAGED system.

The CAGED system for (dominant) seventh chords uses the open seventh chord shapes C7, A7, G7, E7 and D7 introduced in the basic seventh chords section.

CAGED pattern for seventh chords

Here are the five basic seventh chord shapes combined on the fretboard:

Seventh chord shapes across the fretboard
Seventh chord shapes across the fretboard

The numbers in the circles are the intervals / scale degrees. Please have a look at the introduction to intervals and chords if you haven't done so already.

Seventh chords derived from the CAGED pattern

Below is a list of chord diagrams that result when applying the five seventh chord shapes to the root notes C, D, E, F, G, A and B. Here is help on how to read chord diagrams.

Keep in mind that it's often possible to change the chord shapes slightly, e.g. by omitting duplicate notes or by adding an open string to the chord shape (for example, when using the D seventh shape to play an E seventh chord it's possible to add the low E string - this is indicated by the grayed out letter at the bottom of the chord diagram).

Also not shown below is that some barre chords can be played with the thumb over the neck instead of barring the strings with the index finger.

C seventh chords

C seventh chords

D seventh chords

D seventh chords

E seventh chords

E seventh chords

F seventh chords

F seventh chords

G seventh chords

G seventh chords

A seventh chords

A seventh chords

B seventh chords

B seventh chords

See also

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