I'm going to tell you now about the seventh mode of the major scale, the Locrian mode. Let's start our example in the C Major scale. Using the notes of the C Major scale, we are going to build a scale starting from the seventh note. This gives us B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B. That is the Locrian mode for C major.
Let's take a look at what seventh chord we can build from the Locrian mode. Taking every other note of the mode we get B, D, F, A. Those notes make up a chord that can be called by two names. It can either be called a half-diminished chord, or a minor 7 flat 5 chord. In this it is a B half-diminished or B minor 7 flat 5. Let's take a look at the process with another scale. Let's use G.
The notes of the first mode of the G major scale are G, A, B, C, D, E, and F sharp. So the Locrian mode of the scale is going to start on the F sharp. That gives us F sharp, G, A, B, C, D, and E. We can build the F sharp half-diminished, or F sharp minor 7 flat 5, by taking every other note of that mode. If we do that we end up with F sharp, A, C, E.
So there you have it, the Locrian mode of the major scale. I hope you were able to grasp the concept of modes.
Next, you can check out the free video lesson on the
Lydian Piano Mode .
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