The CAGED A Shape

The A shape as a chord

Open, it is the A chord every beginner learns (x02220). From the 5th string up it plays root, 5th, root, 3rd, 5th. Put a barre where the nut was and the same fingering plays any major chord — here, G major at frets 10–12. The root notes are the dark dots.

How to find the A shape for any major chord

Find the root you want on the 5th string and bar your first finger across that fret; the rest of the A shape sits above the barre. Here it is for all twelve major chords, from the open A up the neck; tap one to see it on the fretboard.

• A major
  frets 0–2 (open) · root on the open string
• Bb major
  frets 1–3 · root at fret 1
• B major
  frets 2–4 · root at fret 2
• C major
  frets 3–5 · root at fret 3
• Db major
  frets 4–6 · root at fret 4
• D major
  frets 5–7 · root at fret 5
• Eb major
  frets 6–8 · root at fret 6
• E major
  frets 7–9 · root at fret 7
• F major
  frets 8–10 · root at fret 8
• F# major
  frets 9–11 · root at fret 9
• G major
  frets 10–12 · root at fret 10
• Ab major
  frets 11–13 · root at fret 11

The scale around the A shape

Hold G in the A shape at frets 10–12 and the notes around your fingers are the G major scale in this position, with the chord’s root, 3rd and 5th marked. That is the A-shape scale pattern, and it moves with the chord.

G major across the whole neck · the G major arpeggio · Open it in the tool →

The pentatonic box inside it — frets 9–12

Leave out the 4th and the 7th and what is left in these frets is G major pentatonic position 4. Position 4 on its own page · Practice it →

The A shape and its neighbours

In A major the five shapes climb the neck in CAGED order, and the A shape comes round again twelve frets up. Where two shapes share frets is where you change shape without moving your hand.

1. A shape at frets 0–2 (shares fret 2 with the G shape)
2. G shape at frets 2–5 (shares fret 5 with the E shape)
3. E shape at frets 5–7 (shares fret 7 with the D shape)
4. D shape at frets 7–10 (shares frets 9–10 with the C shape)
5. C shape at frets 9–12 (shares fret 12 with the A shape)
6. A shape at frets 12–14

In every key the A shape takes over from the C shape below it and hands on to the G shape above it; only the starting fret changes with the root. All five shapes, connected →

How to practice the A shape

1. Play the open A chord, then the same shape as G at frets 10–12, until the barre version rings as cleanly as the open one.
2. Move it one fret at a time and say each chord’s name as you land on it; the list above has every fret.
3. Hold the barre chord, play the pentatonic box around it, and finish each run on a chord tone. That is the step from chords to lead lines.