STRINGSCALES

C ultralocrian Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

Low E string: Fb, Gb, Ab, Bbb, C, Db, Ebb, Fb at frets 0, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12

A string: Bbb, C, Db, Ebb, Fb, Gb, Ab, Bbb at frets 0, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12

D string: Ebb, Fb, Gb, Ab, Bbb, C, Db, Ebb at frets 0, 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12

G string: Ab, Bbb, C, Db, Ebb, Fb, Gb at frets 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11

B string: C, Db, Ebb, Fb, Gb, Ab, Bbb at frets 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10

High E string: Fb, Gb, Ab, Bbb, C, Db, Ebb, Fb at frets 0, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12

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C ultralocrian

The ultralocrian scale is the seventh mode of the harmonic minor scale: locrian with its 4th and 7th squeezed down further, leaving a diminished 7th chord spelled straight up the scale. Everything in it wants to collapse inward, which makes it a natural over diminished 7th chords and the darkest corners of metal and jazz vocabulary.

it consists of these notes and degrees:

C

I

E𝄫7no5/C
D♭

bii

D♭m
E𝄫

bbIII

E𝄫maj
F♭

bIV+

F♭aug
G♭

bv

G♭m
A♭

bVI

A♭majb5
B𝄫

bbVII

B𝄫maj

Characteristic note: A (bb7), the double-flat seventh that makes this the darkest mode of harmonic minor.

Same notes, different mode

C ultralocrian 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.

Db neapolitan minorD lydian #6Fb mixolydian augmentedGb romani minorAb locrian dominantA ionian major #2

ultralocrian in all 12 keys, with chords and related scales

tip
  • Use C ultralocrian over a diminished 7th chord: the double-flat 7th (A) is the chord's own diminished 7th, spelled into the scale.
  • It is harmonic minor's seventh mode: play C a half step up in harmonic minor fingering and you are already here.
  • Everything wants to fall; resolve the whole line down a half step into the major or minor chord below.
  • For extreme metal color, pedal the open root against b2 (Db), b4 (E) and b5 (Gb); there is no darker mode in the harmonic minor family.

How to play C ultralocrian on guitar

Closest root: B string, fret 1. No functional dominant appears anywhere in the harmony, so progressions in this key resolve by some other route than the usual five-to-one pull. Chords still stack inside it: Dbm, Fbaug, Gbm, and BbbM all come from the note set. Same fingering also serves C# neapolitan minor a single semitone up, which lets one practiced box cover two different systems.

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