You know that you need to learn guitar scales so that your guitar playing, whether you play rock guitar or jazz guitar or even Country guitar, improves dramatically. You want to sound fluid and creative, not formulaic; you won't want to play the "same ol' same ol'". When you learn scales you'll take your guitar playing even higher with the learning of modes. Modes are simply variations upon guitar scales that, when played in certain ways, cause the music to take some dramatic turns. If you learn scales as well as modes, you will be far ahead of those who only learn one, or don't learn any, of these things.
One of the guitar modes to learn is the Locrian Mode. The Locrian Mode is quite similar to the Phrygian Mode, (another guitar scale mode). But when you play the Locrian Mode, there is one note that is different. This one different note makes, well, all the difference in the world.
Playing in the Locrian Mode, in its simplest sense, means beginning and ending a solo or lead break on the 7th note of the "straight" scale-that is, the scale the comes from the key that you are playing in. So, if you were playing in the key of C, and you wanted to play a solo in Locrian, you would start and end the solo on an B note. It would not have to be exactly the same B note, it could be a B note in another octave if you preferred, but it must be B (ha!).
Playing in C Locrian Mode is, thus, not at all the same thing as playing in the key of C. You are playing the notes of the D major scale, not the notes of the C major scale. You're just playing them in a certain way.
Advanced guitar players want to understand the intervalic relationship for using a mode. The intervals for the Locrian Mode yield the following notes (relative to the key): Root, flatted 2nd , flatted 3rd ,major 4th ,flatted 5th , flatted 6th, flatted 7th . If you wanted to play B Locrian in a C major key, the notes that you would juggle would be: B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B'.
So let's be perfectly clear if you played C Locrian, you would be playing in the key of D but with the "feeling" of a C major scale. You would "think in" the series C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C'. Those are the notes that you would draw upon.
Imagine playing the C Locrian mode within song written in D. You can probably hear in your head how different it would sound than if you just played the usual D major scale in that song.
The Locrian Mode is not used very much, in truth. There are differing theories as to why. It might be that the Locrian Mode, as it is based on the Leading Tone, is too "suggestive of" the Ionian Mode and thus loses effectiveness. It's also thought that the Locrian Mode sounds so much like the Phrygian Mode that it's barely distinguishable and, so, why should a guitar player learn or use both when Phrygian is so popular?
When you learn guitar scales, don't forget your modes. When you learn modes, don't forget the Locrian Mode.
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