CAGED Scales: How to Learn Them

Learning the Major Scale is extremely important for guitar. Intermediate Guitar players get stuck after they learn the pentatonic scale. The way to get out of that is to learn every position of the major scale.  

I recommend people start with CAGED Scales. The reason is scales are trying to teach us the entire fretboard. If we just wanted to play in one position, the pentatonic is the best place to do that. But, breaking out of the pentatonic requires learning other sections of the guitar. CAGED Scales have five shapes to learn. You then can transpose each shape into different keys. You should still learn every key, but you can learn the shapes once. The shapes come from the chords C, A, G, E, and D. The scale shapes outline the pattern of the chords and this is why it is called the CAGED system. 

So how do we learn each scale type?

There are three ways that will help you master scales.  

1. Play Them Up and Down. 

2. Connect the Scales 

3. Improvise the Scales  

Play Them Up and Down 

This is how everyone is taught to play scales. You take a scale diagram and start on the low E string playing the notes left to right. Then, play each string until you reach the high E string. After that, play the notes right to left and go back down the scale. This method works with any scale, or mode that you practice.  

The important part is that you can play this in any position. Once you have a position down, you can practice Improvising the scale if you would like (Section three).  

I recommend learning shapes based on where they fall on the fretboard, not by a fixed position number. Most scale books assign shape one based on the key of G, then use that same shape as position one for every key. In the key of C, that shape starts on the eighth fret. But there are two other CAGED shapes for C that sit lower on the neck. A book that always leads with 'position one' will put them after position one. Learning scales by position will help you memorize shapes. But, the goal isn't just to learn scale shapes. The goal is to use scale shapes to learn the fretboard.

Here are the five shapes of the C Major Scale in the CAGED system. For the first shape, start on the third fret of the low E string. Then play the fifth fret like the diagram says. Keep going left to right on every string. Then when you finish the high E string. Go back. Play Right to left on every string. Do this for each position in your scale.

Shape 1

Shape 2

Shape 3

Shape 4

Shape 5

Connect the Scales 

Once you have played each shape of one key, you can then connect the scales. It is like the Up and Down Method, but you connect them. Go up the first Shape of the C Major Scale. (low E to high E). Then slide up the high E string through the second shape of the C Major Scale and come down that shape.  

So you go up shape one. Then Down Shape two. Then you’ll do the same thing and slide up shape three on the low E string, and go up that shape. Then go down shape four and up shape five.  

This means you will have played each shape in one direction. After you do that, come down shape five. Then go up shape four. Then down shape three. Then up shape two and finally down shape one.  

This will help you master connecting the scales. The next step is to start by going down shape one. This will reverse the order we just talked about. But, it will help you actually learn the guitar neck instead of a pattern on guitar. 

Improvise the Scales 

Once you are comfortable with all five shapes, the next step is to learn how to improvise. The scales are pretty useless if you don’t know how to improvise. Take one rhythm (Start with Quarter Notes or Eighth Notes) and play notes in the scale. You don’t want to constantly play up and down the scale. You want to pick random notes to get used to improvising the scale. 

At first, start with one scale position. Once you master a position, move on to the second position and so on. Once you have five, work on connecting them. You can improvise two at a time. You can do all five. This is how you learn the fretboard.  

If you want to learn CAGED scales, click the link to get our Roxy Rockin’ Guitar books. The next scales are in the Red Book.