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C♯ locrian pentatonic Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

Low E string: E, F#, G, B, C#, E at frets 0, 2, 3, 7, 9, 12

A string: B, C#, E, F#, G at frets 2, 4, 7, 9, 10

D string: E, F#, G, B, C# at frets 2, 4, 5, 9, 11

G string: G, B, C#, E, F#, G at frets 0, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12

B string: B, C#, E, F#, G, B at frets 0, 2, 5, 7, 8, 12

High E string: E, F#, G, B, C#, E at frets 0, 2, 3, 7, 9, 12

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C# 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:

C♯

I

E

bIII

F♯

IV

G

bV

B

bVII

Same notes, different mode

C# 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.

E flat three pentatonicF# in-sen

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

tip
  • A m7b5 chord plus the 4th: root, b3 (E), IV, b5 (G), b7 (B); 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 C#, this is the pocket-size choice.
  • Use the b5 (G) 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 C♯ locrian pentatonic on guitar

Four open strings land in this key, low E, G, B and high E, letting you voice wide chords around the 9th-fret root. None of them is the root or a perfect fifth though, meaning they colour rather than anchor, and a capo at 1 hands you C fingerings. Fretted roots sit at 2 on the B, 4 on the A, 6 on the G and 11 on the D. Both E strings carry one at 9.

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