The CAGED C Shape

The C shape as a chord

Open, it is the C chord every beginner learns (x32010). From the 5th string up it plays root, 3rd, 5th, root, 3rd. Put a barre where the nut was and the same fingering plays any major chord — here, G major at frets 7–10. The root notes are the dark dots.

How to find the C shape for any major chord

Find the root you want on the 5th string. The C shape reaches 3 frets back from it toward the nut, and your first finger bars the strings that ring open in the C chord. Here it is for all twelve major chords, from the open C up the neck; tap one to see it on the fretboard.

• C major
  frets 0–3 (open) · root at fret 3
• Db major
  frets 1–4 · root at fret 4
• D major
  frets 2–5 · root at fret 5
• Eb major
  frets 3–6 · root at fret 6
• E major
  frets 4–7 · root at fret 7
• F major
  frets 5–8 · root at fret 8
• F# major
  frets 6–9 · root at fret 9
• G major
  frets 7–10 · root at fret 10
• Ab major
  frets 8–11 · root at fret 11
• A major
  frets 9–12 · root at fret 12
• Bb major
  frets 10–13 · root at fret 13
• B major
  frets 11–14 · root at fret 14

The scale around the C shape

Hold G in the C shape at frets 7–10 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 C-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 7–10

Leave out the 4th and the 7th and what is left in these frets is G major pentatonic position 3. Position 3 on its own page · Practice it →

The C shape and its neighbours

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

1. C shape at frets 0–3 (shares fret 3 with the A shape)
2. A shape at frets 3–5 (shares fret 5 with the G shape)
3. G shape at frets 5–8 (shares fret 8 with the E shape)
4. E shape at frets 8–10 (shares fret 10 with the D shape)
5. D shape at frets 10–13 (shares frets 12–13 with the C shape)
6. C shape at frets 12–15

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

How to practice the C shape

1. Play the open C chord, then the same shape as G at frets 7–10, 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.