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E locrian pentatonic Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

Low E string: E, G, A, Bb, D, E at frets 0, 3, 5, 6, 10, 12

A string: A, Bb, D, E, G, A at frets 0, 1, 5, 7, 10, 12

D string: D, E, G, A, Bb, D at frets 0, 2, 5, 7, 8, 12

G string: G, A, Bb, D, E, G at frets 0, 2, 3, 7, 9, 12

B string: D, E, G, A, Bb at frets 3, 5, 8, 10, 11

High E string: E, G, A, Bb, D, E at frets 0, 3, 5, 6, 10, 12

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E 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:

E

I

G

bIII

A

IV

B♭

bV

D

bVII

Same notes, different mode

E 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.

G flat three pentatonicA in-sen

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

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

Open strings do most of the work here, 5 of the 6 falling in the key, which lets you strum across and land almost entirely inside it. Both E strings are roots at 0 and the open A is the fourth, so a full open-position drone is genuinely available. Fretted roots wait at 2 on the D, 5 on the B, 7 on the A and 9 on the G. Fret 12 marks the octave of both open roots.

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