Connecting the positions: chord shapes and CAGED

Knowing five separate positions is not enough: you have to move between them without thinking. The secret is to see that each pentatonic position wraps around a chord shape. This is the principle of the CAGED system: if you see the chord, you see the scale, and you know where the "safe" notes are. To keep the diagrams readable below fret 12, this lesson works in E minor (E, G, A, B, D).

Five positions, five chords

The first four shapes are easy to play as chords:

The G minor shape (position 5) is awkward as a full chord: just remember its three roots. Notice the order of the shapes going up: E, D, C, A, G, then E again. That is the order of the word CAGED (C-A-G-E-D) looping round from E, and it never changes, whatever the key.

Three ways to connect the positions

1. The slide: move from one position to the next by sliding along a single string (for example string 1, fret 3 → 5: from position 1 to position 2). A slide is both a shift and an expressive effect.
2. The diagonal: play three notes per string, your hand rising two or three frets on each string. You cross two octaves and every position in one gesture (example below).
3. The octave jump: play a motif in one position, then the same motif an octave higher in another (position 1 → position 4, for instance). The listener hears the intensity rise; the soloist "takes off".

M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=76
K:Em clef=treble-8
"Em"E, G, A, B, D E G A | B d e g a b d' e' | e'8 |]

e |------------------------|----------------------10--12-|-12~--------------------|
B |------------------------|--------------10--12---------|------------------------|
G |------------------------|----7--9--12-----------------|------------------------|
D |-------------------5--7-|-9---------------------------|------------------------|
A |----------2--5--7-------|-----------------------------|------------------------|
E |-0--3--5----------------|-----------------------------|------------------------|

This diagonal runs from position 1 (open strings) to position 5 (fret 12). Play it slowly, sliding with the index finger at each string change, then come back down.

The same idea in major

G major is the relative of E minor: its five CAGED shapes (G, E, D, C, A) sit in the same five positions. For example, the E-shape G barre chord (fret 3) lives in position 2. When the tune is in major, aim for the notes of the major chord; in minor, those of the minor chord. The scale shapes themselves do not move.

Step-by-step exercise

1. Chord, then scale: play the E minor chord shape of position 1, then improvise two bars around it. Move to the D shape, two bars, and so on. Use the modal backing in E minor.
2. One chorus = one climb: start an improvisation in position 1 and reach position 5 by the end of the chorus, using at least two slides.
3. The travelling motif: invent a three- or four-note motif and play it in all five positions at exactly the same pitch, then at the octave.
4. Eyes closed: improvise for one minute without looking at the neck; find your way by the roots alone.