Locrian Scale

The Locrian scale is the darkest of the seven modes: a minor scale with a flat 2nd and a flat 5th. That b5 means its home chord isn't a stable minor triad but a diminished one, so Locrian almost never works as a key center. Songs rarely sit on it for long.

Where it lives is the m7b5 chord. Every time you see Am7b5 as the ii chord of a minor ii-V-i (Am7b5, D7, Gm), A Locrian is the scale that fits it. Metal players also love it for riffs that grind the b2 and b5 against a low root.

Everything here is in A Locrian (A Bb C D Eb F G), the same notes as Bb major and G minor.

• Formula, patterns and sound (free): the formula, five positions plus a three-notes-per-string shape, and where it's really used.
• Exercises: Position 1 in sixteenths, a three-note sequence, diatonic 3rds and a line linking Positions 1 and 2.
• Soloing: a ii-V-i in G minor and two licks that use Locrian over Am7b5 and resolve into Gm.