What is the E Locrian ♮2 Scale?
Locrian ♮2 is the sixth mode of the melodic minor scale, and it solves a practical problem: standard Locrian's ♭2 clashes badly with the root over half-diminished chords, but this version keeps a natural 2nd. It's the preferred scale choice for m7♭5 chords in modern jazz, giving you all the darkness of Locrian without the harshest dissonance. Here's how the E Locrian ♮2 Scale lays out on the fretboard.
Notes and Positions
Locrian with a natural 2nd; 6th mode of melodic minor. Used over half-diminished chords in jazz. On guitar, you can treat this as both a lead vocabulary and a way to see chord tones inside common shapes. Start with one box, then connect it to the nearest root on the next string set. In the key of E, the notes are: E, F#, G, A, Bb, C, D.
How to Use It
You'll often hear it in Jazz, Fusion, and Half-diminished chords. A good way to internalize the sound is to sing the root, then sing a few scale degrees before you play them.
Start by playing one position slowly and saying the note names or degrees out loud. Use the interactive fretboard above to spot repeats of the same note on different strings and frets.