Weekly Workout, CAGED and Loving It! Week One

Week One
Ex. 1 depicts the open C7, A7, G7, E7, and D7 chords. If these aren’t already familiar, learn the shapes and get comfortable switching from chord to chord before moving on to the next examples.

In Ex. 2, use the five CAGED shapes to produce five different C7 voicings. As you move the shapes up the neck, notice that a first-finger barre often replaces the previously played open strings.
This can make for some difficult fingerings, such as the C7 with the G shape. But don’t worry; I’ll show you how to reduce these finger-busters into more manageable chords. For now, go with the full-blown versions, so you can best see how the CAGED system works. The same idea is transferred to a series of A7 chords in Ex. 3.

In Ex. 4a and b, I’ve shown how to transform the G and E shapes into some more manageable grips. The G-shape A7 in Ex. 4a can be fingered as a simple barre over the top four strings with either the second or third finger fretting the first string. In Ex. 4b, the full six-string barre chord can be simplified to a partial first-finger barre, with the second finger on string 3, fret 6.

For more go to AcousticGuitar.com