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The Locrian Mode on Guitar

Unstable, tense, dissonant

At a Glance

Formula: 1 ♭2 ♭3 4 ♭5 ♭6 ♭7

Degree: VII of the major scale — play a major scale starting from its 7th note and you are playing Locrian.

Character: Unstable, tense, dissonant

Heard in: Metal, jazz, used sparingly

Examples: Half-diminished chord contexts, Metallica solos

Locrian in All 12 Keys

Each page shows the full fretboard, the five CAGED shapes, the diatonic 7th chords and the pentatonic subset. The parent major scale is listed beside each key — that is the scale you are really playing, just starting somewhere else.

C LocrianC♯ major C♯ LocrianD major D LocrianD♯ major D♯ LocrianE major E LocrianF major F LocrianG♭ major F♯ LocrianG major G LocrianG♯ major G♯ LocrianA major A LocrianA♯ major A♯ LocrianB major B LocrianC major

The Other Six Modes

All seven modes share the same seven notes when they share a parent scale. What changes is which note feels like home.

IonianI DorianII PhrygianIII LydianIV MixolydianV AeolianVI

Keep Going

How the modes workGUIDE The CAGED systemGUIDE Analyze a chord progressionTOOL Guitar Mode Finder for iPhoneAPP