Chord Colors

B Locrian Pentatonic scale

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About the B Locrian Pentatonic scale

B Locrian Pentatonic is used for jazz solos over half-diminished chords. Think of it as a five-note scale built around the flat fifth.

Its notes are B, D, E, F, and A. The formula is 1½ W H 4 semitones W. It is the fifth mode of D Dorian Pentatonic.

Also called Minor 75 Pentatonic.

B Locrian Pentatonic shares E, A, D, and B with the guitar's open strings. On guitar, the deepest B within reach is the 2nd fret of the A string. The scale runs a complete octave from root to root inside the first three frets.

Positions

Playable shapes for this scale up the neck. Tap any note to hear it.

Pentatonic boxes

The five shapes blues and rock are built on, the first scale most guitarists ever solo with, one box per note up the neck.

Box 1open
Box 2fr 1
Box 3fr 5
Box 4fr 7
Box 5fr 10

Notes and intervals

1BBRoot
2DDMinor 3rd
3EEPerfect 4th
4FFDiminished 5th
5AAMinor 7th
Steps1½ W H 4 semitones W
Semitones3-2-1-4-2
Degrees1 3 4 5 7

Shapes

Chromatic

CC♯D♭DD♯E♭EFF♯G♭GG♯A♭AA♯B♭B

Circle of Fifths

CGDAEBF♯G♭C♯D♭G♯A♭D♯E♭A♯B♭F

Related scales

Locrian Pentatonic in other keys

Modes

The same notes, starting on a different note.

Embed this scale

Paste the snippet into a lesson page, a blog or a forum post. The card links back here.

B Locrian Pentatonic scale on guitar shown as colored note dots
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