The C shape is the open C chord — 5th string root under the ring finger, a note on every string but the 6th — turned into a movable form. Barre where the nut was, rebuild the grip in front of the barre, and the shape now produces any major chord: the root under your 4th finger (5th string) names it. It is the widest-voiced of the five shapes, which is why it rings like an open chord even high up the neck.
Where it starts, for every root
Recomputed from the voicing library: the C shape's major form for each of the twelve roots, with its starting fret and exact frets (x = muted). The geometry is identical in every row — only the address changes.
| Root | Starts at | Frets (6th → 1st) |
|---|---|---|
| A | fret 9 | x–12–11–9–10–9 |
| A# | fret 10 | x–13–12–10–11–10 |
| B | fret 11 | x–14–13–11–12–11 |
| C | fret 1 | x–3–2–0–1–0 |
| C# | fret 1 | x–4–3–1–2–1 |
| D | fret 2 | x–5–4–2–3–2 |
| D# | fret 3 | x–6–5–3–4–3 |
| E | fret 4 | x–7–6–4–5–4 |
| F | fret 5 | x–8–7–5–6–5 |
| F# | fret 6 | x–9–8–6–7–6 |
| G | fret 7 | x–10–9–7–8–7 |
| G# | fret 8 | x–11–10–8–9–8 |
Using it
Two practical notes from the table. First, the C shape is position 1 in the cycle: whatever root you are playing, the next shape up the neck is always the A shape. Second, because the open grip already uses three fretted notes, the movable version is a genuine four-finger chord — most players reserve it for chord-melody and sparkle rather than full-time rhythm, and let the A and E shapes carry the barre work.
Hear the open form on the C major page, then find the same shape inside D major at fret 2 and E major at fret 4 — the frets change, the geometry never does. Every voicing chart in the chord reference labels its CAGED shape, so the connection stays visible wherever you browse.