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— switch — The Cycle Shells with Color Rootless Voicings Bud Powell Left Hand The Turnaround Tritone Substitution Reharm the V Diatonic Sevenths Secondary Turnaround Minor ii–V–i Minor ii-V-i with ♭9 Minor Turnaround Diatonic 7ths in Minor Backdoor Progression Twelve-Bar Blues Minor Blues Bird Blues Blues Stride LH Blues Walking Bass Rhythm Changes Boogie Blues Shuffle Rhythm Changes Bridge Blues Rootless (Evans) Coltrane Changes Blues Pedal Point Standard Intro Blues Block Chords Two-Handed Comping Blues Freddie Green Charleston Comping Bebop Blues Comp Freddie Green Comping Blues Guide Tones Walking Bass Charleston Blues Tritone-Sub Walking Bass Bud Powell Blues Drop Two Two-Handed Modern Blues Stride Bass Stride with Melody Quartal Voicings Upper Structure Triads Hybrid Voicings Kenny Barron Voicing Sus Chord Vamp The Mu Chord Maiden Voyage Chord 4-Way Close Pedal Point Lydian Vamp Phrygian Vamp Bossa Nova Guide Tones Bebop Scale Dominant Bebop Dorian Bebop Bebop Minor The Enclosure ii-V-I Lick Pentatonic Patterns Plain Locrian Melodic Minor Dorian ♭2 Lydian Augmented Lydian Dominant Mixolydian ♭6 Locrian ♮2 Altered Scale Harmonic Minor Phrygian Dominant Half-Whole Diminished Whole-Tone Scale Minor Blues Major Blues Aeolian (Natural Minor) Dorian Mode Ionian (Major) Lydian Mode Minor Pentatonic Mixolydian Mode Phrygian Mode Whole-Half Diminished
(MED. SWING ♩=80 )
62
Jazz Piano · The 7th Mode of Major
Plain Locrian
1 – ♭2 – ♭3 – 4 – ♭5 – ♭6 – ♭7 — the darkest diatonic mode, twelve keys
Play exercise
Plain locrian is the seventh mode of the major scale. C
locrian: C D♭ E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C . Five of the
seven scale tones are flatted — only the root and the 4 stay
"natural" (the 4 is just a P4 in major as well). The tonic
triad is diminished (1, ♭3, ♭5), and the ♭2 sits a half step
above the root, making for an unstable, dissonant scale.
The scale's only common application is as the chord scale
for a m7♭5 (half-diminished) chord derived
from the major scale's vii degree. Modern jazz prefers
locrian ♮2 (exercise #68) instead, which lifts the
jagged ♭2 to a natural 2 (= a usable 9 on the chord). Plain
locrian is the diatonic-purist choice; locrian ♮2 is the
melodic-minor-purist choice. Both work over ø7; the difference
is the ♭2 versus ♮2.
Now 2 octaves, both hands — the same pattern extended up and back with fingering marked above every note in each hand.
Intervals 1 – ♭2 – ♭3 – 4 – ♭5 – ♭6 – ♭7. Five flatted scale tones.
Use Over m7♭5 in a diatonic-major context. Compare to locrian ♮2 for modern usage.
Jump to
Cø7 Fø7 B♭ø7 E♭ø7 A♭ø7 C♯ø7 F♯ø7 Bø7 Eø7 Aø7 Dø7 Gø7
F
ø
X
X
11fr
X
X
11fr
F
ø
X
X
16fr
B
ø
B
ø
X
X
16fr
X
X
14fr
A
ø
A
ø
X
X
14fr
X
X
12fr
F
ø
F
ø
X
X
12fr
B
ø
X
X
17fr
B
ø
X
X
17fr
X
X
10fr
E
ø
E
ø
X
X
10fr
X
X
15fr
A
ø
X
X
15fr
A
ø
G
ø
X
X
13fr
X
X
13fr
G
ø
The Daily Drill
The diatonic ø7 scale
3 min Play C locrian. The ♭2 (D♭) is the awkward note — it sits a half step above the root and clashes with the tonic in melodic phrases. Notice how you instinctively want to avoid landing on it. 8 min Cycle three keys. The fingering follows the same root-based pattern as the other modes. 3 min Side-by-side with locrian ♮2: play C locrian for 4 bars, then C locrian ♮2 for 4 bars. The single note that changes (♭2 → ♮2) is the entire reason modern jazz prefers locrian ♮2 over plain locrian for ø7 chord scales. 4 min Apply: in C major's vii (Bø7), play B locrian (the diatonic choice). Then in a Dm key playing the iiø7 chord (= Eø7), try both E locrian and E locrian ♮2 (mode 6 of G mel min). Listen to which sounds more usable to your ear. Why locrian rarely works as a tonic A tonic chord needs to feel stable. Locrian's tonic triad is diminished (1, ♭3, ♭5) — the most unstable chord in tonal music. It contains the tritone (♭5) within its tonic triad itself, which is harmonically self-defeating: the chord pulls toward a resolution that can never be its own root. So while there's nothing forbidding music in "the key of locrian," almost no Western music has ever been written that way. Locrian functions almost exclusively as a chord scale for the m7♭5 chord — a passing harmony, not a tonic. Its only home is as a one-bar (or one-chord) scale within a larger functional progression. That's why we file it alongside locrian ♮2 in parent-scales rather than treating it as a tonic-mode exercise.
Five flatted intervals out of seven. The diatonic mode no one tonicises — but the ø7 chord scale every diatonic harmony references.