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Hi Ursula ( @campfire ), CAGED is all about barre chords, so yes there’s going to be a lot of barring going on. Do you recall your post a few months ago where you asked something about the C chord, and I responded talking about using an A shaped barre chord to play a C chord? Well this is where you’re going to learn about that.
The most important thing to take away from this lesson is that these chord shapes have a root string – and as you move these shapes up the neck (toward the guitar body), they become different chords, and it’s the note on the root string (that your index finger is barring) which dictates what the name of that chord shape becomes. For example, lets use the E shaped chord. The root string is the lo E string for the E shape. So if I place my index finger across all 6 strings at the 3rd fret, and make the E chord shape with my other 3 fingers, then I’ve made a G chord. Why is it a G chord? Because I fretted the lo E string at the 3rd fret, which is a G note, thus a G chord! So it is important to know what string is the root string for each of the CAGED chord shapes.
Now as far as barre chord shapes go, the E shape and the A shape are the most common shapes used – so those shapes would be the ones that I’d suggest you practice fretting. The C shape barre chord is makable, but very rarely used and the D and G shaped barre chords are almost impossible to fret. However, that being said, the C, D and G chord shapes are used up and down the neck as open shapes (not barred) but the same rules apply about the root string and root note to dictate which chords they’ll become.
Good luck Ursula – I hope what I’ve said here makes sense to you and most importantly, that it helps you understand a little more about the CAGED system
Bill Brown