Help! I can't reach all the notes in the G shape?

Hey Barrett

I am confused about how to finger the five patterns of major chords in the CAGED system. Especially Pattern 3. It's impossible for my hand to play all these notes cleanly.

David 

Hi David,

(For those reading, here is tablature for Pattern 3: the "G" shape. I am using it to outline a C major chord at the 5th fret.)

-8-
-5-
-5-
-5-
-7-
-8-


Don't worry about playing it all at once using all 6 strings. You will rarely (if ever) need to play the whole shape at once.

Each of the five major chord shapes in the CAGED system is essentially a multiple-use tool that you need to recognize as a single entity.

Think about a more familiar multi-use tool. For example,  a claw hammer is good for driving nails, and it also has a claw for pulling nails. It is good for both the hammer head and the claw to be available on the same handle, but you'd only rarely need to use both sides at once. Of course, you still identify the entire thing as one tool.


The chord shape works the same way. Depending on the song, you might use the bottom two notes only:


----
----
----
----
-7--
-8--

or the top three notes only:

-8--
-5--
-5--
----
----
----

or any other combination; for example, strings 5, 4, and 3:

----
----
-5--
-5--
-7--
----

All of these are identified as part of the overall Pattern 3 shape, which spells C major when played at the fret numbers shown.

For more information and practice, see the Guitar Fretboard Workbook.

http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011

Thanks!