CAGED with Kirk Lorange

Hi, again, fellow twang enthusiast. See? I told you I’d be back.

Kirk Lorange

This week I’m going to point you to a lesson on one of those guitar terms we’ve all heard, but don’t necessarily understand: CAGED.

I had no idea for a very long time what CAGED meant. Now, it’s become the most important part of my mindset when playing, especially when I’m improvising. For most players that I know, scales and modes are the most important factor in their thinking when improvising lines. I never had much joy with them. When I attempted to break loose in a solo it sounded like I was practicing scales … and made me sound like an amateur.

I can’t remember exactly when it was — somewhere back in the early 70s — that I decided to put scales and modes on the back burner and I turned my attention to chords. I had discovered that all the solos that appealed to me were melodic solos, solos that told a story, and after much analysis I then realized that melody consisted mainly of chord tones … those notes that are in the chords. So I started tracking chords and forgot about those scales and modes. For the first time ever I started to sound musical.

Part, if not most, of the learning curve was mapping out the fretboard. I realized that in order to play the solos I heard in my head, I really did need to see the whole fretboard as ‘the chord’. It was only after I had succeeded in doing that that I learned about CAGED. I kept hearing about it through the guitar grapevine (this was long before the Internet) and when a friend finally explained it to me I realized that it was the main aspect of my own mindset.

That was long ago.

I have freed up a video from my site that I put together on this all important topic:

There is more written commentary here: www.guitarforbeginners.com/caged_template.html

Enjoy the lesson and remember: This is very important information if you really want to become proficient. Even if you’re not sure why you should learn this now, do it anyway.

See you next time,

Kirk Lorange

www.thatllteachyou.com

www.guitarforbeginners.com

www.youtube.com/user/planetalk

www.facebook.com/pages/Kirk-Lorange/124022420779

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