Low E string: F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D, Eb at frets 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11
A string: Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab at frets 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11
D string: D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D at frets 0, 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12
G string: G, Ab, Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G at frets 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12
B string: C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb at frets 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11
High E string: F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D, Eb at frets 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11
The locrian mode flattens the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th, leaving a diminished chord on the root: the only mode of the major scale with no stable home. That instability is the point. Use it over half-diminished (m7b5) chords in minor ii-V progressions, or in metal where its tritone-against-root tension is a feature rather than a problem.
it consists of these notes and degrees:
i°
bII
biii
iv
bV
bVI
bvii
Characteristic notes: Ab (b5) and Eb (b2), the flat five and flat two that give locrian its unstable, diminished character.
Same notes, different mode
D locrian 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.
How to play D locrian on guitar
Open D gives you the tonic on a string you never have to fret, and open G sits a perfect fourth above it, so a two-string drone holds under everything you play. Low E carries the lowest root at fret 10. Box one ends at fret 14, which means most of the usable shape lives in the upper half of the neck. Three flats in the signature, and BbM is the bVI chord.
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