Chapter 16: The BAGED System - Connecting the Shapes to Unlock the Entire Fretboard

For the last five chapters, you've been gathering all these amazing tools—15 different chord shapes! Right now, they might feel like separate ideas. This is the chapter where we organize them all into one incredible, connected toolkit. This is the master framework that makes everything click. It’s called the BAGED system, and it’s the key to feeling truly at home on the fretboard.

We're not learning anything new here. We're simply connecting what you've already mastered into a unified system that will make your playing smoother and more creative than ever before.

15 Shapes → 1 Unified System → Complete Fretboard Mastery

Let's get started.

The System: Understanding the BAGED Framework

You might have heard of a system called CAGED. We call our version BAGED. Why? Because it's a simple, intuitive system based on where you find the root note of the chord. The B-shape is rooted on the B-string. The A-shape on the A-string, and so on. It’s a common-sense approach that just makes things easier.

For any chord, these five shapes will always appear in the same order as you move up the neck: B-A-G-E-D. This is the key sequence to remember. Once it clicks, it opens up a world of possibilities.

The real beauty of this system is its amazing versatility. Once you understand it, you have:

• Total Creative Control: Need a C chord to sound a bit brighter or warmer? You don't have to change the chord, just the position. The BAGED system gives you five different voicings (or flavors) for every single chord.
• Effortless Movement: Stop making big jumps all over the neck. This system shows you the closest, most efficient way to move from one chord to the next.
• Complete Fretboard Confidence: Once you start to see the fretboard as a repeating sequence of these five shapes, it’s no longer a mystery. It becomes a map, and you have the key.
• Builds a Lifelong Skill: This isn't just about the chords you know now. This exact BAGED framework is the foundation for every advanced chord you'll ever learn—major 7ths, minor 7ths, dominant 7ths, you name it. You're not just learning a trick; you're building a foundation that will support you for your entire guitar journey.

This approach gives you a clear, consistent way to find and use chord shapes based on their root string. The graph below shows the system in action, illustrating how to find the C major chord across all five BAGED string roots.

This is what the C major chord looks like rooted on all five of these strings.