Have you noticed that some people can play anywhere on the guitar fretboard with ease? What do they know that the rest of us don’t? A great deal, maybe … BUT it’s not that difficult to learn.
Here’s a link to the CAGED chord shapes on the fretboard for several keys: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ewd2r4rbr6uq6si/CAGED%20Chords.pdf?dl=0
One of the best ways is to take the chords you already know in the first position, study their shapes (there are only 5 major chord shapes to know!) and then find each of those shapes up the neck for a given chord (say A or C or G).
It’s a bit of an overstatement to say you *MUST* know these chords in order to play up the neck – but not much of one.
We’ll use these chords as a jumping off point to learn scales and arpeggios ANYWHERE on the fretboard in ANY KEY. With practice, you’ll be able to play anywhere on the guitar fretboard.
Here’s the whole CAGED System set:
Part 0 – “The 5 Chord Shapes You Must Know to Play Up the Guitar Neck” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7yWMwWBBHw&list=UUnAFjKTNBVRkXWbFL4AUmbA)
Part 1 – C-Shape https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NbkniY_2H8
Part 2 – A-Shape https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2IVtJL0x_M&list=UUnAFjKTNBVRkXWbFL4AUmbA
Part 3 – G-Shape https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR_kgLDYgts&list=UUnAFjKTNBVRkXWbFL4AUmbA
Part 4 – E-Shape https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycidkOimy1Q
Part 5 – D-Shape https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5uOFf1dJGY