CAGED major chord shapes

With the CAGED system for major chords you can play any major 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 major chords uses the open major chord shapes C, A, G, E and D introduced in the basic major chords section.

CAGED pattern for major chords

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

Major chord shapes across the fretboard
Major 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.

Major chord shapes

Playing all the notes of a given chord shape is often impractical or inappropriate. Below are commonly used versions of the major chord shapes.

When in doubt: Here is an explanation of how to use movable chord shapes and here is help on how to read chord diagrams.

C major shape

C major shape
C major shape

A major shape

A major shape variation 1
A major shape
variation 1
A major shape variation 2
A major shape
variation 2

G major shape

G major shape
G major shape

E major shape

E major shape variation 1
E major shape
variation 1
E major shape variation 2
E major shape
variation 2
E major variation shape 3
E major shape
variation 3
E major variation shape 4
E major shape
variation 4

D major shape

D major shape
D major shape

See also

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