Bass – CAGED system and minor pentatonics

I. CAGED overview

notice that:

the “C” shape is a root on the 3rd string played by finger 3 or 4 and the rest of the notes in that position are on the same fret or to the left

the “A” shape is roots on strings 3 & 1, two strings and two frets apart from each other

the “G” shape is roots on strings 4 & 1, and the notes in the rest of that position are in that 3-fret area

the “E” shape is roots on strings 4 & 2, two strings and two frets apart from each other

the “D” shape is a root on the 2nd string played by finger 1 or 0 and the rest of the notes in that position are on the same fret or to the right

the shapes can be spread to map out the whole bass neck, and the shapes always go in the order C-A-G-E-D when you’re going up the neck

if you started on a G shape, as in the example below, the next shape would be an E shape, then D, etc.

the following shows major and minor “arpeggios” (1-3-5s) as the fit within the CAGED system

pdf: CAGED bass

II. Minor Pentatonics

each position gets its name from 1 of the 5 CAGED positions described above