Unit 1: Twiddly Widdly's

Frusciante CAGED

Let's start by outlining how John Frusciante usually uses the CAGED system, and how you can find these "Frusciante style CAGED shapes"!

Notice how the C shape & the D shape are basically the same thing for Frusciante! We use the root note on the A string to find the C shape, then play the middle 4 strings, or the 3 high strings to get both shapes! This is a very important trick you'll need to remember!

Finding the Shapes

The final piece of the puzzle is to find these 3 core shapes and we do that using the E and A strings. These shapes can be found in the Fretboard Diagrams.

If you can find the root note on the E string, you can find the E shape. If you can find the root note on the A string you can find the other two shapes. It's as simple as that! for the rest of this lesson, give that a try with Dion!

## Practice

In this lesson, we'll start putting the theory into practice. We'll take a core groove and play a set of chords in just one position on the neck. Let's start with the chords:

So those are the chords we're going to play. With that, we will be using this strumming pattern:

Our task now is to pick a zone of the neck and try to find these chords. Dion runs through a few examples in the video, so let's just demonstrate one of those here. We will choose this area of the neck:

Take a look at the fretboard diagrams to see the shapes we're playing in this area!

And that's the idea! Have some fun with this with Dion! It's a fantastic exercise that you can do anywhere on the neck!

The Licks

Let's now add some twiddly bits! Our aim in this lesson is to give you a few basic ideas to help you match the shapes with the scales, as well as learn how to apply a groove to the twiddly lead parts, within the chord shape. So, first up, let's take a look at the tab in the Guitar Tabs section!

The licks are all based on the matching pentatonic shape. For more in-depth information regarding why these are all matched up, be sure to check out our "Unlocking Major CAGED" course! The chords and the matching pentatonic shapes can be found in the Fretboard Diagrams

So your task is to follow along with Dion, and try to get this set of licks together in time and in the groove! Remember, that whenever you use any of those shapes, you can always use these licks. Our job over the next few lessons and units is to start to build up your repertoire of licks with each chord shape!

Bring On Minor

We need to do the same thing we did for major, with minor. The good news is that Frusciante tends to focus more on just two CAGED shapes in the minor system. Now, that's not to say he doesn't know the rest or even use it from time to time, but as with most great players he's settled on a set of systems that just works for him. For Frusciante, it's the Em shape and the Am shape, as shown in the Fretboard Diagrams

NOTE: We don't typically play these shapes using barre chords either, as Dion shows you in the video. The thumb over the top approach ensures you have more fingers free for twiddly bits!

So your task is to follow along with Dion, and try to get this set of licks together in time and in the groove! Remember, that whenever you use any of those shapes, you can always use these licks. Our job over the next few lessons and units is to start to build up your repertoire of licks with each chord shape!

Finding The Shapes

Just as before, we can now look to try and find these shapes within a chord progression, bringing in the major as well. Here is the progression:

Once again, we'll use the same strumming pattern:

Our task now is to pick a zone of the neck and try to find these chords. Dion runs through a few examples in the video, so let's just demonstrate one of those here. We will choose this area of the neck:

Let's take a look at the Fretboard Diagrams to see the shapes we are using.

Minor Twiddles!

Let's now add some twiddly bits! Our aim in this lesson is to give you a few basic ideas to help you match the shapes with the scales, as well as learn how to apply a groove to the twiddly lead parts, within the chord shape. So, first up, let's take a look at the tab in the Guitar Tabs section!

The licks are all based on the matching pentatonic shape. For more in-depth information regarding why these are all matched up, be sure to check out our "Unlocking Minor CAGED" course! Take a look at the Fretboard Diagrams for the chords and the matching pentatonic shapes.

So your task is to follow along with Dion, and try to get this set of licks together in time and in the groove! Remember, that whenever you use any of those shapes, you can always use these licks. We now have the core concepts and a few really cool ideas to put into practice. Next up, we're gonna tackle our first song to bring this theory to life!