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QUESTION
Hello,
My question concerns the various scale systems used in guitar playing. From what I've gathered, there are three popular scale systems: CAGED (5 positions), 3 Notes Per String (7 positions), and the William Leavitt system (12 positions). When strictly reading passages within one position on the fingerboard, Leavitt's method works well. However, most of the time when I read sheet music, there's a lot of position shifting, which I feel makes the Leavitt method less practical. I've always preferred the 5-position CAGED system, but I'm unsure if it's the correct system to use when reading music. What are good resources for reading music on guitar and other materials to practice sight-reading? Also, are there any resources that can help with reading chords as well as chord melody?
Thanks!
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CAGED is good for reading.
The Real Book is good reading practice - standard and chords.
For Guitar Players Only by Tommy Tedesco has some good ideas about reading.
Thanks! Do you have any thoughts on the William Leavitt system? I think the idea of playing all 12 major scales in one position is really valuable, but some of the fingerings he uses just never seemed practical to me. Is it possible to play all 12 keys in one position with the CAGED system (with an occasional shift of course)? I didn't know what the best scale system was honestly.
Leavitt has some great reading material, but I'm not a fan of his scale system.
With CAGED, you should be able to play any key any position +/- one fret. For example, if you were playing/reading in C and wanted to do it in 6th position you would be better served at 5th or 7th positions.
Here's a good caged chord drill to show how caged can work in any key over the whole fretboard:
Take a random key, then pick a random fret number, and play all the chords in that key at that fret (+/- one fret up of down).
So for example pick Bb, 8th fret.Now play the 1 (Bb), 2 (Cm), 3 (Dm), 4 (Eb), 5 (F), 6 (Gm) and 7 (Adim) all with your index finger at the 8th fret (+/- 1 fret).
When you can do that drill easily with random keys and fret numbers then you'll have a good grasp on how chord shapes relate to each other in the number system anywhere on the fretboard. You should also be able to see that you could read in any of those positions.
The Tommy Tedesco book talks a lot about being able to read up and down on one string. And he was one of the all time great guitar readers.
I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who never liked leavitt's fingerings. I'm going to continue using his books because like you said, the reading material and chord etudes are stellar. For the CAGED exercise you mentioned, did you to play those chords as 3 note triads, or full on barre chords? I don't see how I can keep my index finger locked at the 8th fret like that, or even up and down one with just my index finger? Or did you just mean arpeggios?
Full chords.
1 Bb = D shape 8th position
2 Cm = E shape 8th
3 Dm = G shape 7th (Gm shape is a bitch, I know)
4 Eb = G shape 8th
5 F = A shape 8th
6 Gm = C shape 7th (Cm shape is a bitch too)
7 Am7b5 = D shape 7th
Do it until you can do any key any fret relatively quickly.