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Exercise
— 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 )
68
Jazz Piano · The ø7 Scale
Locrian ♮2
Mode 6 of melodic minor — locrian with a natural 2, twelve keys
Play exercise
Plain locrian (1, ♭2, ♭3, 4, ♭5, ♭6, ♭7) is the darkest mode
of major, used over m7♭5 chords. But its ♭2 sits a half step
above the root, which clashes uncomfortably with the chord
tones. Locrian ♮2 raises that ♭2 to a natural 2,
removing the clash and turning it into a usable 9. The chord
becomes m9♭5 (still a half-diminished function) with a more
melodic line on top.
C locrian ♮2: C D E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C . Use it
over the iiø7 chord of any minor ii-V-i. The ♮2 (D) is
the 9 of the chord. Almost all post-1960 jazz uses this scale
instead of plain locrian over m7♭5.
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. Locrian with natural 2.
Use Over ø7 / m7♭5 chords. Mode 6 of melodic minor.
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
X
X
16fr
B
ø
X
X
14fr
A
ø
A
ø
X
X
14fr
X
X
12fr
F
ø
X
X
12fr
F
ø
X
X
17fr
B
ø
B
ø
X
X
17fr
X
X
10fr
E
ø
X
X
10fr
E
ø
X
X
15fr
A
ø
A
ø
X
X
15fr
X
X
13fr
G
ø
X
X
13fr
G
ø
The Daily Drill
The brighter half-dim
3 min Play C locrian ♮2 slowly. The 2 (D) sits cleanly a whole step above the root, sounding like the chord's 9. Compare to plain C locrian (D♭) — that ♭2 sits jaggedly a half step above C and never works as a melody note over the chord. 8 min Cycle three keys. Used in every minor ii-V-i since 1960: the iiø7 chord gets locrian ♮2, the V7alt gets altered, the im gets melodic minor. All three are modes of melodic minor — the parent moves up a minor 3rd (F mel min → A♭ mel min), then up a major 3rd (A♭ → C), across the cadence. 4 min Apply: play a Dø7 → G7alt → Cm cadence very slowly. Use D locrian ♮2, then G altered, then C melodic minor. All three scales come from melodic minor parents (F mel min, A♭ mel min, C mel min); each cadence step shifts the parent. 3 min Improvise an 8-bar phrase over a static Dø7 vamp using locrian ♮2. Notice how the line stays consonant — none of the notes clash with the chord. Why not plain locrian? Plain locrian has a ♭2 (one half step above the root) and a ♭5 (the diminished 5th, which together with the root makes the chord's defining tritone). Both are dissonant against the chord, but the ♭5 IS a chord tone — it's the chord's ♭5 — so it has to be there. The ♭2, however, is just a chromatic note in the scale that the player doesn't have to use. Plain locrian sounds "correct" for ø7 in theory but melodically constrained: the ♭2 has nowhere to go without clashing. Locrian ♮2 simply lifts that one note up a half step, removing the clash and turning a constrained scale into a usable line vocabulary. Same parent (melodic minor of a related root); same chord function; less constrained melodically.
One altered tone away from locrian. The whole post-1960 vocabulary for half-diminished chords sits in that single half step.