Fretboard Explorer
Five shapes. One neck. Pick a key and watch the C, A, G, E and D forms tile the fretboard: the same chord, five places, all connected.
The idea
You already know the open C, A, G, E and D chords. The CAGED system's big insight is that these five shapes are moveable: slide any of them up the neck and it becomes a new chord. Stack all five for one key and they tile the entire fretboard, connecting end to end. That's what this board shows: the same chord, five positions, no gaps.
How to read it
Each color is one shape; the flags above the board show where each shape sits. A ringed marker is the root, the note the chord is named after. In scale views, solid markers are chord tones (your safe landing spots) and hollow markers are passing tones. A split-color marker belongs to two shapes at once: those shared notes are the doorways between positions.
How to practice
Start with one shape on and play the chord tones until the pattern is automatic. Add its neighbor and walk between them through the shared notes. Then switch to a scale view and solo inside one box, landing on solid markers. When all five feel like home, change the key. The shapes stay the same, they just slide.
Every marker is a chord tone of G major. Rings mark the root. Where two shapes share a note, the marker splits. That seam is how you move between positions.
CAGED system explained: see the whole fretboard
The Fretboard Explorer shows how the five CAGED shapes tile the neck in any key, with chord-tone and scale overlays. It turns the fretboard from a wall of dots into five familiar shapes you already know, so barre chords and scales finally make sense.
How to use the fretboard explorer
- Pick a key.
- Turn on chord tones, or overlay the major or pentatonic scale.
- Watch the five shapes connect up the neck, and open any shape for its plain-language explainer.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the CAGED system?
- CAGED is a way to see the whole neck as five familiar open-chord shapes, C, A, G, E, and D, repeated up the fretboard in any key.
- Are barre chords just moved open chords?
- Yes. A barre chord is an open shape shifted up the neck, which the explorer shows you visually.
- Does it show scales too?
- Yes. Overlay the major or pentatonic scale and see how it sits across all five CAGED shapes.