The CAGED System 4: 7th Chords
Like we did in the first CAGED article, today we are going to begin with the basic open shapes of the various seventh chords, and then develop moveable, and barred versions of those open chords.
Major Seventh Chords
These are the most basic major seventh chords, in open position.
Using the CAGED principle we can turn these into moveable chord forms, which will allow us to use the chords anywhere on the neck – not just as open chords.
Minor Seventh Chords
Here are the minor seventh chords, again in open position.
And here are the moveable CAGED shapes based on those open shapes.
Dominant Seventh Chords
The following diagram shows some of the most common open position dominant seventh chords. Note that although there are other possible chord grips, only these five conform with the CAGED system.
And here are the moveable CAGED shapes:
If your wondering which of these CAGED shapes you should learn first, its probably a good idea to make sure that you know the A and E shapes first and then learn the C and D shapes. The G shape is very rarely used in its entirety, so it is probably the least important – although there are some very useful ‘chord fragments’ which can be taken from the G shape, so don’t discount its usefulness out of hand, either.
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