B Locrian Scale: Notes, Chords, and How to Play It

B Locrian is the darkest and most dissonant of the seven diatonic modes. It shares every note with C major but treats B as home — and that single shift in tonal centre produces something radically unstable. The tonic triad is diminished, the 2nd degree is flat, the 5th is flat, and there is no perfect 5th to anchor the key. Locrian does not resolve; it grinds. That quality makes it a favourite in extreme metal, djent, and jazz harmony over half-diminished chords.

What Makes Locrian Different?

The Locrian mode is built on the 7th degree of a major scale. B Locrian uses the notes of C major starting and ending on B. Compared to B natural minor (B Aeolian), Locrian has both a flatted 2nd and a flatted 5th. Those two alterations strip away the perfect 5th that every other mode possesses and reduce the tonic triad to a diminished chord — making Locrian inherently unstable and almost impossible to use as a conventional key centre.

For a full explanation of all seven modes, see Modes Explained: Dorian to Locrian.

Notes of the B Locrian Scale

The B Locrian scale contains seven notes:

B – C – D – E – F – G – A

The scale follows the Locrian interval pattern — H – W – W – H – W – W – W — and returns to B one octave higher. Every note is a white key on the piano, making B Locrian as easy to finger as C major despite sounding nothing like it.

The half steps fall between B–C (degrees 1–2) and E–F (degrees 4–5). The minor 2nd (C) and diminished 5th (F) are the defining intervals — together they create the grinding, unstable tension that characterises Locrian. No other diatonic mode has a flatted 5th from the root.

B Locrian on Piano

B Locrian uses only white keys, starting on B and playing every white key up to the next B. Despite the simple fingering, the sound is strikingly dark and unsettled compared to any other white-key mode.

Right hand fingering (ascending): 1 – 2 – 3 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 (thumb crosses under after D, then fingers walk up to B)

Left hand fingering (ascending): 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – 3 – 2 – 1 – 4 (after the thumb plays E, the third finger crosses over to F)

The key exercise is to drone a low B with your left hand while playing the scale with your right. Without that anchor, your ear will immediately default to hearing C major. The drone forces B to function as home and reveals the Locrian character — tense, unstable, and dark.

B Locrian on Guitar

On guitar, B Locrian is often played in low positions for maximum heaviness. The 7th-fret position (rooted on the 6th string) is the most common for metal riffing.

7th position (low to high):

The half step between the open string and the first fretted note (B to C) is the source of Locrian’s menacing character on guitar. Metal guitarists exploit this interval relentlessly — the flat-2-to-root motion (C–B) creates a grinding, chromatic tension that defines the Locrian riff sound.

Use the guitar fretboard view in the Interactive Chord Finder to see all positions at once.

Diatonic Chords in B Locrian

Stacking thirds on each scale degree produces seven triads with a characteristic Locrian pattern:

The pattern diminished – major – minor – minor – major – major – minor holds true in every Locrian key. The i° chord (Bdim) is the defining feature — Locrian is the only diatonic mode whose tonic triad is diminished. There is no stable home chord, which is why Locrian is rarely used as a key centre in traditional harmony. Instead, the mode thrives in riff-based music where the root note is established through repetition and rhythmic emphasis rather than chord resolution.

For a thorough explanation of how diatonic chords are constructed, see Diatonic Chords: A Beginner’s Guide.

Seventh Chords

Adding a fourth note to each triad creates seventh chords, which are central to Locrian’s role in jazz:

The iø7 chord (Bm7♭5) is the half-diminished seventh — the chord type most associated with Locrian. In jazz, when you see a m7♭5 chord symbol, Locrian is the first scale to reach for. For more on seventh chords, see Seventh Chords: The Complete Guide.

Locrian in Practice

Because the tonic chord is diminished, traditional chord progressions do not work in Locrian the way they do in other modes. Instead, Locrian is used in two primary contexts:

Metal Riffs and Ostinatos

In extreme metal, djent, and progressive metal, Locrian riffs use the ♭2–root half-step motion (C–B) as a grinding, dissonant motif. The riff anchors B through rhythmic repetition rather than harmonic resolution. Bands like Meshuggah, Periphery, and Dream Theater use Locrian passages for their crushing, mechanical feel. The intro riff of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” captures a similar ♭2-to-root tension.

Jazz Over Half-Diminished Chords

In jazz, Locrian appears whenever a m7♭5 chord functions as a ii chord in a minor key. In a ii–V–i progression in A minor (Bm7♭5 – E7 – Am), the Bm7♭5 chord calls for B Locrian. The scale is played over that single chord, not sustained as a key centre.

Experimental and Avant-Garde

Composers seeking maximum dissonance and instability turn to Locrian for its refusal to resolve. Film scores, video game soundtracks, and avant-garde compositions use it to create dread and unease.

Parent Major Scale and Modal Relationships

B Locrian is the 7th mode of C major. Every mode of C major shares the same seven notes (all white keys) but starts on a different degree:

Understanding this relationship is the key to modal thinking. B Locrian is not “C major starting on B” — it is its own sound with B as the tonal centre. The shared notes are a theoretical connection, but the musical effect is completely different.

Locrian vs Natural Minor

Locrian can be understood as a natural minor scale with two additional alterations — a flatted 2nd and a flatted 5th:

Those two semitone drops — C♯ to C and F♯ to F — remove the only intervals that give natural minor its stability. The result is a mode that cannot settle, cannot resolve, and constantly pulls away from its own root.

Practice Tips

Drone on B. Play or loop a low B note and improvise using the scale over it. Without the drone, your ear will default to hearing C major — the drone forces B to function as the tonal centre.

Emphasise the ♭2 and ♭5. When practising, linger on C (the minor 2nd) and F (the diminished 5th). These are the notes that define Locrian — make sure your ear recognises their tension against the root.

Practise the ♭2–root riff. On guitar or piano, repeatedly play C–B in rhythm. This half-step grind is the foundation of most Locrian riffs in metal. Vary the rhythm and octave to explore different feels.

Play over a m7♭5 chord. Loop a Bm7♭5 chord and improvise with the scale. This is the most practical jazz application and trains your ear to associate Locrian with its most common harmonic context.

Compare with Phrygian. Play B Phrygian (B – C – D – E – F♯ – G – A) immediately after B Locrian to hear the effect of the ♭5. Phrygian shares the ♭2 but keeps the perfect 5th — the comparison isolates exactly what the diminished 5th contributes to the Locrian sound.

Try It Yourself

Open the Interactive Chord Finder, select B as the root and Locrian as the scale. You will see every note highlighted on the piano keyboard or guitar fretboard, the step pattern visualised as intervals, and all diatonic chords laid out in a table — ready to play and explore.

For the complete list of scales in every key, see Scales for Piano and Guitar: The Complete Reference Guide.