Keith Wyatt is one of the world’s most prominent guitar educators, specializing in blues and roots-based music. Stylistically savvy and theoretically switched on, he has spent four decades writing, recording, performing and teaching. Be it in the pages of Guitar Player or in classes at L.A.’s famous GIT school for over 30 years, Keith’s wisdom and breadth of vocabulary is second to none.
Keith has taken his Fender Telecaster in hand to share a topic he learned as a late-’70s GIT student and which has stayed with him ever since. Specifically, it’s the CAGED system, which draws on the five core guitar chord shapes of E, G, A, C and D (reorganized, it spells CAGED) to map the fretboard into manageable zones that provide fluidity when playing chords, arpeggios, scales and licks.
Becoming aware of CAGED at GIT through course material created by session legend and master jazzer Howard Roberts was a game changer for Keith’s relationship with the guitar. Now he’s here to open its door for your own playing.
I was like everybody else from my generation who played electric guitar — there was no method. You had to figure it out on your own, learn a lick off a record or your buddy showed you something. Or you read Guitar Player magazine. Thank God for that!”
— Keith Wyatt
He begins with an ascending blues phrase in the key of C that applies the CAGED concept by moving through each of the five available areas. He does this with a selection of notes from the C major pentatonic scale (C-D-E-G-A), albeit with an additional blues-appropriate minor 3rd-to-major 3rd embellishment (adding in the b3 provides bluesy grease). After outlining the basic concepts of the system, he defines the various C octaves and connects each of these positions with appropriate material.
Next up, he plays a descending phrase that is different this time in two regards. First, he’s ascending the positions; and second, he’s choosing melodic material predominantly from the C minor pentatonic scale (C-Eb-F-G-Bb). See the associated fretboard diagrams below which outline the specific positions for both, along with a diagram that shows the whole fretboard connected to form one big shape.
Start by learning Keith’s bluesy licks exactly as written, then explore each of the CAGED shapes to create your own lines and phrases. Aim to find the same phrase in each area, perhaps shifting octaves if the range won’t allow a direct repetition. You could find an entirely new phrase in each position, taking advantage of the unique opportunities each form offers in terms of fingering and articulation options. You might find certain bends and slides easier in some positions, based around which finger might or might not land on the note you wish to bend or slide to.
Or you could erase the boundaries, as Keith suggests, by combining each shape with the neighboring pattern, either above or below. This can create one interconnected pattern of notes within a specific tonality, allowing you to flow through your melodic patterns with control and security.
John Wheatcroft
John has performed with Billy Cobham, John Williams, Frank Gambale, Paco Peña, Biréli Lagrène and Stochelo Rosenberg. John has also toured the world with both Carl Palmer and John Jorgenson. He wrote numerous tutorial articles for Guitar Techniques over two decades and now writes for Guitar Player and Guitar World. As a masterful blues fusion player, he’s ideal for transcribing Keith’s wonderful playing here.
Example 1: Blues shuffle in C with chords and licks
The golden age of GIT was about having so many guitar players together in one place feeding off of each other. It was a phenomenal environment.”
— Keith Wyatt
Keith sets up his cool blues lines by establishing both the groove and the tonality. He slides into a C9 chord (C-E-G-Bb-D) from the semitone below. Pay attention to the muted strums, and notice how you can clearly hear his foot tapping away to define the pulse. Keith manages to visit each of the five areas of the CAGED system, albeit briefly.
He deftly connects these shapes in a musically fluid and idiomatically appropriate way, using notes derived from the C major pentatonic scale with an added minor 3rd (C-D-Eb-E-G-A). The direction of travel here is important: you’re much more likely to hear the minor 3rd resolve upward to the major 3rd (Eb to E), rather than the other way around (E to Eb).
Example 2: Blues shuffle in C with variety
What GIT was was a method. It was a system. It was
the first time in history that hundreds of guitar players gathered in one spot and said, ‘Let’s figure this thing out.’”Keith Wyatt
This second example is in some ways the reverse of Example 1, in that this time we’re descending the fingerboard. Once again, Keith sets up the groove and contextualizes the lines that follow by clearly establishing our C9 tonality.
The main difference here, however, is that Keith is choosing melodic ideas derived from the minor pentatonic scale (C-Eb-F-G-Bb). This minor-against-major sound is one of the defining characteristics of blues improvisation, so it’s a good idea to be equally fluent with both of these contrasting options: it’s extremely common to blend both sounds within the same musical phrase.
