Minor CAGED Shapes: Every Minor Chord in Five Places

Minor CAGED shapes are the five CAGED chord shapes with the third lowered by one fret, which turns each major shape into its minor version. For A minor they run: A shape (open), G shape (frets 1–5), E shape (5th fret), D shape (7th–10th) and C shape (8th–12th), then the A shape again at the 12th.

One rule: lower the third

If you've worked through the CAGED system guide, you already know the major shapes and where their roots sit. Minor CAGED isn't a second system to learn. It's the same map with one note changed in each shape, and it's part of the CAGED lessons.

A major chord is root, major third and fifth. A minor chord is root, minor third and fifth. The minor third is one fret lower than the major third, so every major shape becomes a minor shape by finding each third in it and moving it down one fret. The roots and fifths don't move.

Take the E-shape A major barre chord at the 5th fret. Its third is the C♯ at the 6th fret of the G string. Lower it to the 5th fret, C, and the whole shape becomes the familiar A minor barre chord. That's the entire technique. The hard part isn't the theory; it's that some shapes become awkward to finger once the third has moved.

The five minor shapes for A minor

Here is A minor in each shape, from the open chord up the neck. Notes are labelled by interval: R for the root, ♭3 for the minor third, 5 for the fifth.

After the C shape, the A shape comes round again at the 12th fret, an octave above the open Am chord. The order is the same as for major chords — C, A, G, E, D — and each chord simply starts the cycle in a different place.

Which shapes to actually play

Three of the five are comfortable in full. The open A minor and E minor shapes are among the first chords most people learn, and the E-shape and A-shape minor barre chords are standard. The D shape is only four strings, so it moves easily.

The G and C shapes are a different matter. Played in full, both need stretches that few people use in real music. Use part of them instead:

• C shape, top three strings — E, A and C at the 9th fret of the G string, 10th of the B string and 8th of the high e. A clean minor triad you'll use constantly.
• G shape, middle strings — E, A and C at the 2nd fret of the D and G strings and the 1st fret of the B string. Small, dark and useful for rhythm parts low on the neck.

Those partial shapes are triads, which is why the triads guide and this one overlap so much. Minor triads are just minor CAGED shapes with the doubled notes taken out.

Minor shapes and the minor pentatonic

The minor shapes matter most to soloists, because each one sits inside one of the five minor pentatonic positions. The chord tones of A minor — A, C and E — are three of the scale's five notes, so every position wraps around a minor CAGED shape:

Each pairing repeats an octave up: position 4 surrounds the open A shape and the A shape at the 12th fret, and position 5 surrounds the G shape low on the neck and again around frets 14–17. When you know which minor shape you're near, you know where the chord tones are in the scale around it — see the five pentatonic positions for the scale shapes themselves.

From minor to minor seventh

Minor seventh chords are one more move away. Find a root in the minor shape that isn't the lowest note and lower it two frets: the root becomes the flat seventh. In the E-shape A minor at the 5th fret, the root on the D string at the 7th fret drops to the 5th, a G, giving Am7 (A, E, G, C, E, A across the six strings). In the A-shape A minor at the 12th fret, lower the root on the G string from the 14th fret to the 12th for another Am7.

The same idea works for every shape where a root can move without disturbing the fingering. It's a quick way to get the softer, jazzier sound of minor sevenths without learning new shapes from scratch.

A ten-minute practice routine

1. Two minutes — major to minor. Play each major CAGED shape for A, then lower its third. Say the name of the note that moved.
2. Three minutes — A minor up the neck. Play the five minor shapes in order from the open chord to the 12th fret, using the partial versions of the G and C shapes.
3. Two minutes — shape and scale. Pick one minor shape, play it, then improvise in the pentatonic position around it and end on a chord tone.
4. Three minutes — a progression. Play Am, Dm and Em in one area of the neck, choosing the nearest minor shape for each rather than going back to the open chords.

After a week, move to E minor and D minor. The shapes and their order are identical; only the starting fret changes.