5 Forms of Movable Fingerings
For any scale there are five basic movable fingering patterns which can be moved to any part of the fretboard. These fingerings can be named according to the chord shape to which each fingering corresponds.
The names of the five forms (formations or patterns) are easy to memorize because they spell the word CAGED when put together. It is the position of the keynotes in each fingering which determines the name of the form. End to end these five forms cover the whole fretboard before repeating. The fingerings of these forms are shown in the following diagrams for the C major scale along with the chord shapes to which they relate.
Open Chord Shape
Chord Form
Major Scale Form
C
C Form
C Form
A
A Form
A Form
G
G Form
G Form
E
E Form
E Form
D
D Form
D Form
The following diagram shows how the five forms cover the whole fretboard when placed end to end.
Let’s look at each of the five scale forms individually. The following diagram shows the C form. This is the open position major scale you learned in section 1.
C Form
Here are the other four forms. Learn them one at a time and practice them until you can play them all from memory. It is particularly important to memorize the positions of the key notes in each form, as they are like landmarks which you can always refer back to.
A Form
G Form
E Form
D Form
