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F locrian pentatonic Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

Low E string: F, Ab, Bb, Cb, Eb at frets 1, 4, 6, 7, 11

A string: Bb, Cb, Eb, F, Ab at frets 1, 2, 6, 8, 11

D string: Eb, F, Ab, Bb, Cb at frets 1, 3, 6, 8, 9

G string: Ab, Bb, Cb, Eb, F at frets 1, 3, 4, 8, 10

B string: Cb, Eb, F, Ab, Bb, Cb at frets 0, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12

High E string: F, Ab, Bb, Cb, Eb at frets 1, 4, 6, 7, 11

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F 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:

F

I

A♭

bIII

B♭

IV

C♭

bV

E♭

bVII

Same notes, different mode

F 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.

Ab flat three pentatonicBb in-sen

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

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

Roots sit as low as fret 1 on both E strings, meaning box one lives right at the nut end of the neck. Only the open B string is in the key, sounding Cb, giving a single colour tone rather than a pedal under the root at 6 on that same string. Other roots land at 3 on the D, 8 on the A and 10 on the G. Capo 1 converts this to E shapes.

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