D Locrian — Bass (4-String)

The D Locrian scale runs 7 notes per octave in the modes family. Below it sits on the Bass (4-String)'s EADG strings with every root marked, because a bassist reads a scale map as a set of targets around the root, not a row of dots.

The most dissonant, unstable mode — the tonic chord is diminished (b5), making a true Locrian tonal center rare. Used for color and passing harmony.

Heard in: Metal riffs, jazz (half-diminished ø7 chords in ii°7 – V – i), horror and tension film scores.

In fourths tuning every pattern is movable: learn the shape once, one finger per fret, and it works from any root on the EADG neck.

Walk it slowly against the audio, land each root on a downbeat, then take it to the progressions in D and let the scale turn into lines.