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A locrian pentatonic Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

Low E string: G, A, C, D, Eb at frets 3, 5, 8, 10, 11

A string: A, C, D, Eb, G, A at frets 0, 3, 5, 6, 10, 12

D string: D, Eb, G, A, C, D at frets 0, 1, 5, 7, 10, 12

G string: G, A, C, D, Eb, G at frets 0, 2, 5, 7, 8, 12

B string: C, D, Eb, G, A at frets 1, 3, 4, 8, 10

High E string: G, A, C, D, Eb at frets 3, 5, 8, 10, 11

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A locrian pentatonic

The locrian pentatonic is the minor pentatonic with its 5th flattened: root, flat 3rd, 4th, flat 5th, flat 7th. It spells a m7b5 chord plus the 4th, making it the quickest route to a half-diminished sound in familiar pentatonic fingering. Use it over the ii chord in a minor ii-V, or for deliberately unresolved riffing.

it consists of these notes and degrees:

A

I

C

bIII

D

IV

E♭

bV

G

bVII

Same notes, different mode

A locrian pentatonic uses the same notes as the scales below. Start from a different note and you get a new mode built on the very same note set.

C flat three pentatonicD in-sen

locrian pentatonic in all 12 keys, with chords and related scales

tip
  • A m7b5 chord plus the 4th: root, b3 (C), IV, b5 (Eb), b7 (G); the quickest half-diminished vocabulary in a familiar pentatonic grip.
  • It is the minor pentatonic with the 5th lowered: shift that one finger and every box you know turns half-diminished.
  • Over the ii chord of a minor ii-V in the key a whole step below A, this is the pocket-size choice.
  • Use the b5 (Eb) as a landing tone here (unlike in the blues scale); over m7b5 harmony it is a chord tone, not a passing note.

How to play A locrian pentatonic on guitar

Open A is a root and open D the fourth, giving a drone pair that costs no fingers at all beneath box one at 5. That open A doubles the low E root at fret 5, so neither is truly beneath the other. Open G adds the 7th, and fretted roots follow at 2 on the G, 7 on the D and 10 on the B. A-shape barre lands at 12.

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