The Locrian mode for guitar

Welp. It’s time to get acquainted with the modal oddball. Locrian is quite literally the most unsettled of our seven diatonic modes – both theoretically and sonically.

While most musicians shy away from this dissonant monster, here at Pickup we love a challenge! So let’s cautiously unlock the cage door and try to tame the beast! 👹

In this article we’ll cover all the essentials:

• Some basic theory
• Locrian scale patterns
• Best chords to use with Locrian
• Listening examples and exercises

What’s the Locrian mode?

If you thought the Phrygian mode was moody, prepare yourself – Locrian takes it to a whole new level.

• The reason this mode sounds so dissonant is that it contains the most accidentals (sharps/flats).
• The major scale has no accidentals and is considered the most consonant (harmonious).
• Usually, the more accidentals a scale has, the darker it sounds.

Here’s a comparison of three scales – notice how more flats (b) means a darker/more dissonant sound.

You can see all the scale degrees in Locrian are flat except the 1st and 4th.

The unique interval in Locrian is the b5 AKA the tritone – it’s what makes this mode so difficult to work with harmonically.

That’s enough numbers. It’s time to see how this all translates onto the guitar neck.

Minor scale fretboard diagram

We usually divide the modes into two qualities – major and minor. Locrian falls into the minor category, so let’s compare it to the natural minor scale (AKA Aeolian mode).

Locrian fretboard diagram

Here’s the scale pattern for Locrian.

• All you need to do is take the minor scale and flatten the 2nd and 5th.
• This is a pretty symmetrical shape, so shouldn’t be too tricky to memorize.

What does Locrian sound like?

In a word: DARK! Very few musicians delve into the Locrian depths – there are a few reasons for this.

• Many genres just don’t suit such an unsettling tone.
• It can be very difficult to create a satisfying progression with a diminished chord as the tonic.
• Diminished chords have tension and want to resolve somewhere else.
• There’s no sense of ‘home’ or resolution with this mode.

Songs that use Locrian

The only example of a chart-topping song that uses Locrian is Army of Me by the ever-esoteric Björk.

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The unusual arrangement can make it difficult to figure out what is happening harmonically. Here’s a quick rundown to help make sense of things:

Chorus

• The vocal melody is technically in Phyrigan, as Björk never sings the b5 (our defining Locrian interval)
• The b5 comes from the bass line, which hits both the C (root) and Gb(b5).

Verse

As we move into the verse, the dark tone continues, but we fall away from true Locrian.

• The bass starts using a natural 2nd (not b2) which means this is no longer Locrian.
• Björk also sings a perfect 5th (not b5) in the melody.

Nevertheless, it's a great example of successfully harnessing this awkward mode and utilizing its gloomy atmosphere.

Best chords for Locrian

The min7b5 is our chord for highlighting the Locrian sound.

The diminished triad consists of a 1, b3, and b5. To make a m7b5 we just add one more note.

The table below shows how to build this chord starting with B as a root note.