CAGED is a system for understanding how the patterns of scales and chords are mapped out on a fretboard. It originated on guitar, but it also works well on ukulele. Mastering it will give you the ability to play chords up and down the neck with ease, rather than being stuck in first position.
The CAGED system gets its name from the open chord shapes that form its core and the order in which they fit together like puzzle pieces. Here are the familiar chord shapes we will be working with on ukulele, lined up in the order of the CAGED system:
The CAGFD System?
You probably noticed that I keep calling this the CAGED system, but then the chords I just listed are CAGFD. This is a necessary tweak to the system when you translate it over from guitar. If you’ve ever learned open chords on guitar, you might remember that there isn’t really an open F chord. The chord you can play for F in first position is just an E chord shifted one fret up.
On a uke, the “no open chord” problem presents itself for E rather than F. You can’t shift the F chord one fret lower, so if you want to play an E, you’ll usually play a D-shape shifted up two frets or a C shape shifted up four frets. Or if you’re really looking for a challenge, you can attempt this monster:
That E chord actually does fit into the CAGED system, as you’ll be able to see below, but since it is an absolute pain to play, especially moving up the neck, we will use the F chord instead, making the CAGED system on ukulele the CAGFD system. (But for convenience, I’m going keep referred to it as CAGED.)
How do the chord shapes connect in CAGED for ukulele?
The chords of the CAGED system connect via a handful of landmark notes – notes that are shared by neighboring chord shapes. Here’s a look at how the C and A shapes connect:
Note that these are both C chords. It can be confusing at first to refer to playing a “C chord as an A shape.” There’s lots of letters flying around, and it can be hard to keep track of what you are talking about, but it does get easier with practice.
The overlapping boxes show you the landmark notes. Notice that we don’t usually play both of the overlapping notes when playing the C shape. If you do play both, you end up leaving out the major third of the chord and playing a “5” chord, or what is known on guitar as a “power chord.” (I’ll explain this more later.)
Next, let’s look at the whole CAGED system laid out on the neck, going from a C chord all the way around the loop to another C chord:
You’ll notice that there is no overlap between the F and D chords. The overlap is that crazy E chord. If you look closely at the diagram, you’ll be able to pick it out inside the F and D chords:
So a true CAGED system is possible on uke, but that four-fingered E shape is a beast.
How do you use CAGED on ukulele?
Okay, that was quite the info dump, and you are probably wondering how to actually use any of it. Let’s get into the nitty gritty of it and explore the movable shapes of the CAGED system.
C Shape
The C shape movable chord requires only two fingers. First put your ring finger on the root note (the red dot) of your choice on the A string, and then barre across all of the strings with your first finger, leaving a two-fret gap between the barre and your ring finger.
The grayed-out note is that optional note that is in the A shape. You can play it in the C shape, but it takes the major 3rd interval out of the chord. That means you are playing a 5 chord instead of a major chord. It has no definite major or minor sound to it, which can be useful at times.
It’s easiest to locate this chord using the root note on the A string, but it also works to find your root note on the C string within your index finger barre.
A Shape
The A shape movable chord is extremely useful because it has a root on the G string. Chords with roots on the lowest string will always sound strong and full, and locating chords on your lowest strings is a skill that transfers over directly to guitar, where you often play chords rooted on one of the two lowest strings.
Barre with your index finger, and then fret the G and C strings with your middle and ring fingers. You can play a partial voicing of this chord by playing just the three diagonal notes on the GCE string, kind of like am Em chord but shift over a string. Mute the A string, and you have a complete triad that will sound great.
G Shape
The G shape movable chord is probably the one you will use least often because it requires a bit of a stretch while using all four fingers. More likely, you’ll find it useful to use just the triangle shape and leave out the barre, muting or just not playing the G string. If you can manage the stretch however, you’ll be rewarded with a very rich, full chord.
You locate the triangle shape by finding the root on the E string. If you are going to attempt the barre, form the triangle with your pinky at the point of the triangle and your middle and ring fingers behind, and then stretch your index finger back to barre across the whole neck two frets up from the triangle (or just grab the root note alone on the G, but I actually find that more awkward than the barre).
F Shape
The F shape movable chord is a lot like the D shape (the triangle is still there as part of the barre), but it takes the root out of the bass. It isn’t quite as satisfying, but it is a heck of a lot easier to play. You can also think of this as the same thing as the A shape chord with your middle finger shifted from the C string to the E string (and the root note in a different place).
You can locate this one the same way you located the D shape – by thinking about the point of the triangle on the E string. Put your middle finger on the root note, grab the G string one fret up with your ring finger, and then barre across with your index above the shape.
D Shape
The D shape movable chord is the final shape of the CAGED system on ukulele. You’ll recognize that barre from the C shape at the top of the list – because it is the barre from the C shape. We’ve looped back around to the beginning of the system, and if a ukulele neck went on forever, you could keep playing the CAGED chord forms in order over and over.
Like the G shape, you probably won’t often play the full D shape, only this time you’ll be leaving out the A string. I tend to barre the GCE strings with my ring finger and then let it naturally mute the A, but you can also hyperextend your knuckle, leaving the A able to ring and grab that last note two frets up with your index finger.
Now that we know all of the shapes, let’s look at how we find chords all over the neck.
Locating Chords Using CAGED Shapes
The biggest thing you need to get used to after getting your hands used to the new chord shapes is that the shape of the chord no longer tells you what chord you are playing. When you are just playing open chords, a C chord is a C chord is a C chord. It never changes, and you never move it.
Now, though, you are going to think of C as a shape instead of a specific chord. To know which chord you are playing, you need to remember where the root note is in each chord shape and then start trying to memorize the note locations on the entire fretboard.
That’s right. I said the entire fretboard. Becuase now the whole thing is your playground. You can go anywhere, pick any note, and play a chord. For now we’re just looking at major chords, but I’ll post a similar article soon for the minor CAGED system for ukulele.
CAGED for Ukulele Practice
So how do you memorize the entire fretboard? Step one is getting a handy fretboard map like this:
Step two is printing out the even handier cheat sheet embedded at the bottom of this article that has the fretboard map and all of the CAGED chord shapes on it.
Step three is practice! If you are someone who learns best by drilling and memorizing, then get to it. For me, big concepts like this don’t start sticking until I put them to practical use.
Every time you strum a song, pull out your cheat sheet and find a few different ways to play the same thing in different positions across the fretboard. For example, instead of playing G C D in the open position:
- Find the G on the C string and play a C shape chord.
- Then find the C on the G string and play an A shape chord.
- Finally, jump up to the D on the E string and play an F shape chord.
This is only one of countless variations you can come up with. You’ll be surprised how much more interesting even simple chord progressions sound when you start moving them around.
If you need ideas for chord progressions, make sure you check out the cheat sheet from last week’s post on chords in common keys.
Click the download button below if the embedded PDF doesn’t display correctly. Let me know in the comments if this guide was helpful and if you have any tips and tricks for learning the CAGED system for ukulele. Happy picking!
CAGED For Ukulele Cheat Sheet PDF Download
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