C Locrian

mode

At a Glance

Piano

Fretboard

What It Is

Natural minor with a lowered 2nd and lowered 5th degree - degree 7 of the major scale. Notes: C, Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb.

The only mode with a diminished (not perfect) 5th above the tonic, making the tonic triad itself diminished and unstable.

Unstable and unsettled - the only mode whose own tonic chord is dissonant, so it rarely feels like 'home.'

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