Hi all,

I don't know where else this is, so I'd like to start a thread asking about soloing and the caged system to help each other understand it better, and maybe this can even branch out into a class (I would love a comprehensive caged course, and would definitely go full access for it!).

I used to be a Full Access member until I got to a point where I didn't know where to go to learn new things. I wanted to focus on soloing and bought a book from Amazon. Despite it having over four stars on reviews, I'm missing the concept. I'm hoping I'm not the only one struggling with this.

So, I know the concept of the caged system is that in most scales, there are only 5 truly open chords: C, A, G, E, and D. The premise behind caged is that every chord has its own position of each of these shapes in the different places on the neck. So if the rhythm section is playing an F chord, and I'm soloing at a certain spot on the neck, I can pick one of these shapes that matches with where I want to play the F, and play licks based on that shape. Then when the rhythm section switches to an A chord, rather than me moving to a different place on the neck, I just use one of the five chord shapes that matches with the A chord at my finger position, so the soloing blends more. Is that correct?

Where I'm getting lost is that the book I'm trying to use starts with the minor pentatonic scale, and their shapes don't look anything like C, A, G, E, and D; and it doesn't explain how these are used to build licks. I don't understand when you stay within the chord shape and when you move out of it, and how you quickly figure out which shape to use.

For those who are still struggling with caged and soloing, what are some questions you have? Maybe we can help each other out. For those who figured it out, what helped you really "get it"?