Bb Locrian
The Bb Locrian mode (also written A#) — Bb Cb Db Eb Fb Gb Ab — shown across the guitar neck.
Also written A# Locrian. A# and Bb are the same pitch — Bb is the spelling in common use.
Tap any note on the neck.
Swipe the neck sideways to see the higher frets.
Bb Locrian is the natural minor with the b2 and b5 — Cb and Fb. Those are the notes that give it its character.
What is Bb Locrian?
Bb Locrian is the seven notes Bb Cb Db Eb Fb Gb Ab — the notes of B major started from its 7th degree, Bb. Same seven notes as the parent, but with Bb as home, so the intervals and the sound are different.
Bb Locrian vs Bb natural minor
5 of the seven notes are the same. The difference is 2 notes, and that is the whole character of the mode:
- b2 is Cb in Locrian, where Bb natural minor has 2, C.
- b5 is Fb in Locrian, where Bb natural minor has 5, F.
Play Bb natural minor and Bb Locrian back to back over a Bbm chord and listen for Cb and Fb — those are the notes to lean on.
Chords in Bb Locrian
Stack the mode in thirds and each degree becomes a chord. The home chord is Bbdim; the rest are the chords of B major, since the notes are the same — what changes is which one the music rests on. There is no settled two-chord vamp for Locrian: its home chord is diminished, which is why the mode is heard as a passing colour over other harmony more often than as a key of its own.
Bb Locrian on the guitar neck
Because Bb Locrian is B major from its 7th note, its natural fingering is position 7 of the seven three-notes-per-string shapes of B major — the shape whose lowest note is Bb. Learn that shape with Bb as home — start and end on it, over a drone on Bb — and you have the mode under your fingers. Play the same shape with B as home and you hear B major instead. The other six positions are the fingerings for the other six modes of the same key.
How to practice Bb Locrian on guitar
- Loop position 7 of B major at 60 BPM, starting and ending on Bb so your ear hears Bb as home rather than B.
- Hold a Bbdim chord (or record one) and play the shape over it. Land on Cb and Fb on the strong beats — that is the sound of Locrian.
- Hear it harmonized in 3rds on the Fretboard: press Play and every note sounds with its partner while the neck lights up.
The tool draws A# (the same pitch as Bb) Locrian from its own root: the orange dots are on A# and the degrees count from it. The notes are its parent key's, B major; to hear Locrian, start and end on Bb.
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