New Lesson! This is kind of a big deal for me to share - The CAGED System for Guitar Explained

[Mark Wein]

Below is the normal blurb for social media but here on the forum I just wanted to say that this video contains my actual "secret sauce" method for getting my students to start understanding the fretboard. It's just the first part but it and you miss out on a bit of the guidance I give individual students while the instruction is "in process" but I needed to record some lecture material for my guitar conservatory classes and I figured I would do it in a way that would also work for the YT channel. It's also pretty long for a lesson video so it's divided into three parts with links in the video description below the video on YT to each section.

This is kind of my "flagship" teaching technique for helping my students not only learn the layout of the fretboard, but how their essential music theory works and what it actually sounds like in a way that is actually practical and usable for all styles of music. I've been teaching this way for over 10 years to both private students and in conservatory to great results and I've taken what is essentially the first 3-4 weeks worth of work and distilled it down to a half hour video lesson complete with a PDF workbook that can be downloaded free from my website. Check it out!

 

[Denverdave]

I will definitely watch that later on tonight.....

 

[micwalt]

I'll check it out.
Though I know my way around pretty darn well, I'm all about shapes and boxes and patterns. I rarely know what note I'm playing at any given time, unless I'm on one of the E strings or the A string.

 

[bsman]

Don't put me in no cage, man!

 

[LeftyTom]

 

[Heartstring]

Mark, just a suggestion. Start with a very short intro demo and just stack the chords right up the neck as you call out C-A-G-E-D. I like to start with the open D, or D-C-A-G-E.
That was when "I got" caged, when I saw saw someone demo it like that.

 

[Mark Wein]

Mark, just a suggestion. Start with a very short intro demo and just stack the chords right up the neck as you call out C-A-G-E-D. I like to start with the open D, or D-C-A-G-E.
That was when "I got" caged, when I saw saw someone demo it like that.

Thanks! This video is already made, but I'm always looking at ways to refine how I do things.

 

[Mark Wein]

I'll check it out.
Though I know my way around pretty darn well, I'm all about shapes and boxes and patterns. I rarely know what note I'm playing at any given time, unless I'm on one of the E strings or the A string.

This lays out how notes replicate themselves across the whole neck in a way that starts with the five CAGED root patterns but turns into one big pattern pretty quickly. The other thing you might dig is that all of the scales are built using scale degrees so that you become very aware of note relationships pretty quickly. Once you see it that way, any idea you know in any part of the neck becomes easy to move around.

 

[micwalt]

This lays out how notes replicate themselves across the whole neck in a way that starts with the five CAGED root patterns but turns into one big pattern pretty quickly. The other thing you might dig is that all of the scales are built using scale degrees so that you become very aware of note relationships pretty quickly. Once you see it that way, any idea you know in any part of the neck becomes easy to move around.

Cool!
Old dog, new tricks and all that, but I'll give it a whirl.

 

[Chad]

That was awesome Mark. I've tired to figure out the CAGED thing before and it never really made sense to me. That actually made sense, now I've got some work to do

 

[frunobulax]

Hand yoga!

Give us all the C-notes!

I've watched the first section. Gotta print out the worksheets for the next one. Good stuff.

Thanks, Mark, for sharing your depth of knowledge.

btw, the Jack intro is still awesome.

 

[Mark Wein]

That was awesome Mark. I've tired to figure out the CAGED thing before and it never really made sense to me. That actually made sense, now I've got some work to do

 

[Mark Wein]

Thanks everyone!

I'm glad you guys are digging this. This is one of those subjects that people get kind of crazy about on places like TGP and I think that there are ways that people teach it that are the.....opposite of useful sometimes. I like the idea that this is sort of a stepping stone or even just a frame to hang the rest of your theory concepts on and see where they exist all over the fretboard.

btw, the Jack intro is still awesome.

I tried to find a clip of Jack actually barking but I didn't have anything clean enough. Also, that was my first and probably only attempt at computer animation.

 

[MonkeyZero]

Love the video. Lots of information in a (relatively) short amount of time.
What's up with One Eyed Monster's response? I think he was confused.

 

[Mark Wein]

Love the video. Lots of information in a (relatively) short amount of time.
What's up with One Eyed Monster's response? I think he was confused.

Thanks!

I saw that guys response and didn't know if I wanted to even start to engage with him. He seems to know it all already so I don't think I have much to offer him

 

[MonkeyZero]

Thanks!

I saw that guys response and didn't know if I wanted to even start to engage with him. He seems to know it all already so I don't think I have much to offer him

The whole "I won't teach you because I don't need the money" said everything I needed to know.

 

[Pine Apple Slim]

Only watched. The 1st one. very well presented Mark.
I figured the concept out long before I heard anyone call it CAGED.
It all came to me when I started using a capo extensively.
I like the idea that you don’t really call it theory, but a framework to hang your theory on. A good way to organize the neck mentally because it’s just kinda how the guitar physically works in standard tuning.

 

[Mark Wein]

Only watched. The 1st one. very well presented Mark.
I figured the concept out long before I heard anyone call it CAGED.
It all came to me when I started using a capo extensively.
I like the idea that you don’t really call it theory, but a framework to hang your theory on. A good way to organize the neck mentally because it’s just kinda how the guitar physically works in standard tuning.

Thanks! In recent years I've started teaching most of my intermediate and advanced skill sets more as "method of organization relative to the music you want to make". Once a student buys into the idea, learning new concepts is usually much easier because we can directly relate the new concept (such as a scale, arpeggios or even a harmonization) to the students' already existing pool of information. Then we can spend more time actually worrying about what the idea sounds like and how we can apply it in a practical sense.

 

[Mark Wein]

The whole "I won't teach you because I don't need the money" said everything I needed to know.

Yeah, I'm not really into sparring with people over the right way to teach music. Thats one reason why I'm not nothing with participating on TGP in the lessons forum. There are many ways to do this stuff, but this is the method that has shown itself to be the most productive for my students in my three decades of teaching guitar full time.

 

[Pine Apple Slim]

Thanks! In recent years I've started teaching most of my intermediate and advanced skill sets more as "method of organization relative to the music you want to make". Once a student buys into the idea, learning new concepts is usually much easier because we can directly relate the new concept (such as a scale, arpeggios or even a harmonization) to the students' already existing pool of information. Then we can spend more time actually worrying about what the idea sounds like and how we can apply it in a practical sense.

I think you’re onto something here that’s foundational to learning. At least in my personal journey. I may learn about a concept “theoretically” but it may take me years, or a lifetime, or perhaps never, to actually incorporate the idea into my actual playing in order to produce something that could be called “art”.