Chord & FretLocrian (B)
Locrian closes the family: the 7th mode of Ionian, the major scale's notes starting from the seventh degree. It is the most unstable of the seven, because even the 5th is diminished — lowered a half step — and without a perfect 5th there is no stable "home" chord to rest on. As the center of a whole piece it rarely appears; its real job is local, over the half-diminished chord, m7(b5), which can be understood as a minor chord with that same lowered 5th — common as the ii in minor-key progressions.
Example: B – C – D – E – F – G – AFormula: 1 – b2 – b3 – 4 – b5 – b6 – b7In the formula, the numbers are degrees — positions counted in the reference major scale; "b" lowers a half step and "#" raises one.
Family: The seven modes of the major scale.
The diatonic modes share the same pattern of tones and semitones but reorganize the center. To sound modal you have to reinforce the center and the characteristic degree — if the music keeps resolving to C, the ear hears C major, not D Dorian.
Chords in the harmonic field
These are the seven chords born from this scale — one built on each of its notes. Put another way: the set of chords that sounds naturally "inside" the scale. See the harmonic field of every key →
Bm7b5Cmaj7Dm7Em7Fmaj7G7Am7The same scale on all four instruments
In the diagrams, each dot carries its scale degree — 1 is the tonic, highlighted.
One box per instrument is just the doorway into Locrian. In Chord & Fret, you hear the scale in each of the four instruments' own voices; walk the scale's positions along the whole neck; and turn on the built-in metronome at the same BPM. Start free. Unlock everything with Pro. 100% offline. Open in Chord & Fret →