“Roxanne” by The Police is a great example of the use of major and minor partial forms based on the CAGED guitar chord system. This song also includes 4 suspended chords. See Roxanne’s chords and guitar charts below.

Opening Verse Chord Progression

Gm (“Em form”)

Dm (“form Dm”)

Gm (“form Dm”)

F (“C-shape”)

Eb (“C-shape”)

Fsus (“form E”)

Gsus (“E-shape”)

E—-3—-1—-6—-5—-3—-1—-3————– —-|

B—-3—-3—-8—-6—-4—-1—-3————– —-|

G—-3—-2—-7—-5—-3—-3—-5————– —-|

D—–7—-5—-3—-5——————|

IN————————————————- —-|

MY————————————————- —-|

CAGED Guitar Chords

There are many different types of chords and chord shapes that can be played and played on the guitar fretboard. All these forms go back to five main forms. They are C, A, G, E, and D. This spells CAGED and is therefore called the CAGED system.

Just because this system is derived from five very common open chords, don’t make the mistake that it’s not worth learning or you already got the idea. There is much more. When you really learn the full arpeggio patterns from which common open chords are derived, you’ll realize there’s a lot more to work with than you thought. Tons of different shapes, fingerings, inversions, and voices can be created. In fact, you’re probably already using some of these chord types, but you’re still not able to recognize what they are or where they come from. This is why learning and understanding the entire CAGED chord system is vital to becoming a great guitarist and developing a good working knowledge of guitar music theory.