CAGED - A Super Quick Explanation

This keeps coming up, so I feel like I should break it down. This isn't going to be the most detailed explanation available on the internet, as I just impulsively decided to type this thing up! So I'd recommend researching it some more if these things make you curious.

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What is CAGED? Basically it's a little system to map out the fretboard and give you 5 ways to play any major chord. Each shape kind of has its own unique sound and feel. Depending on the situation, style, and song, players might choose to use one over another.

First, let's look at 5 common open chord shapes:

    C         A         G       E        D

---0------------3-----0-----2-------
---1-----2-----0-----0-----3------
---0-----2-----0-----1-----2------
---2-----2-----0-----2-----0------
---3-----0-----2-----2------------
----------------3-----0-------------

Let's say you were playing a song with a C major chord, and wanted to have multiple options on how to play it, and have more flexibility with the chord. You can create a barre chord version of each of the above open chord shapes and move it up the appropriate amount of frets until the root note becomes C.

---0------------------8-----12-
---1-----5-----5-----8-----13-
---0-----5-----5-----9-----12-
---2-----5-----5-----10----10-
---3-----3-----7-----10--------
----------------8-----8---------

Again, all we had to do was move each open chord the appropriate amount for the root note to turn into a C note (C > C = 0 frets, A > C = 3 frets, G to C = 5 frets, E to C = 8 frets,  D to C = 10 frets).

You now have 5 possible ways to play a C major chord. And each of these barre chord shapes came from the following open chords - C, A, G, E, and D. 

Those 5 shapes spell CAGED.

Wow!!!

Let's try one more. If you wanted to play a D major in multiple positions, it's the same as the C major, but 2 frets higher You get this:

---2------------------10-----14-
---3-----7-----7-----10-----15-
---2-----7-----7-----11-----14-
---4-----7-----7-----12-----12-
---5-----5-----9-----12--------
----------------10----10--------

(note that the fingering of the first shape now changes because it's no longer an open chord)

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That's pretty much it from a super nuts and bolts point of view. Hope this helps!