The CAGED D Shape

The D shape as a chord

Open, it is the D chord every beginner learns (xx0232). From the 4th string up it plays root, 5th, root, 3rd. Put a barre where the nut was and the same fingering plays any major chord — here, G major at frets 5–8. The root notes are the dark dots.

How to find the D shape for any major chord

Find the root you want on the 4th string and put your first finger on it; the rest of the D shape sits above it. Here it is for all twelve major chords, from the open D up the neck; tap one to see it on the fretboard.

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

The scale around the D shape

Hold G in the D shape at frets 5–8 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 D-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 4–8

Leave out the 4th and the 7th and what is left in these frets is G major pentatonic position 2. Position 2 on its own page · Practice it →

The D shape and its neighbours

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

1. D shape at frets 0–3 (shares frets 2–3 with the C shape)
2. C shape at frets 2–5 (shares fret 5 with the A shape)
3. A shape at frets 5–7 (shares fret 7 with the G shape)
4. G shape at frets 7–10 (shares fret 10 with the E shape)
5. E shape at frets 10–12 (shares fret 12 with the D shape)
6. D shape at frets 12–15

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

How to practice the D shape

1. Play the open D chord, then the same shape as G at frets 5–8, 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.