I’ve just this morning thought for the first time about something I often do on the guitar, and found that there is a perfectly strong theoretical basis to it – even though it didn’t arise that way. Yay. 
It’s a funny sort of thing, and I’ve always been a bit embarrassed by it because at first blush it didn’t look to have any real basis or justification, and I thought it was just convenience and laziness…. Well ok, it was convenience and laziness, but at least now I know it makes some theoretical sense 
So what is it? If I want to make it sound impenetrable, I could say I play superlocrian starting from the 3rd degree of a major key. Actually though what it really is, is playing (and thinking) in the relative minor key, and playing superlocrian from the 5th degree of that. First thing in explaining that I guess is a brief discussion of superlocrian.
The “superlocrian mode” is the notes of a melodic minor scale (ascending melodic minor, to be pedantic) played from the 7th scale degree, instead of the tonic. The name superlocrian is a reference to the locrian mode which is the notes of a major scale played from its 7th degree. Why would one do this? because it includes all the possible altered 5ths and 9ths, for use over altered dominant chords.
A dominant chord is defined by having a major 3rd and a minor (flat) 7th. An altered dominant is a dominant 7 chord that has been altered (duh). There are only a few notes you can alter, really: if you alter the tonic it’s a different chord, and if you alter the 3rd or the 7th it’s no longer a dominant chord. You can however alter the 5th and/or the 9th with relative impunity. By alter I mean raise (sharpen) or lower (flatten) them by a semitone, giving b5, #5, b9 or #9. Basically these altered notes increase dissonance, and thus the sense of tension and the urgency of a resolution to something consonant.
Ok, so why again the superlocrian? I’m glad you asked. 
Simply because the notes of the superlocrian are: tonic (1), b2, b3, b4, b5, b6, b7 … It’s a very flat scale. “So what’s the relevance to a dominant chord?” I hear you cry. You can see the b7 there, but the 3rd is flat/minor. But the 4th is also flat, and a diminished 4th is the same note as (sounds the same as/is enharmonic with) a major 3rd. If I write the superlocrian therefore as: 1, b2, b3, 3, b5, b6, b7, you can see the dominant chord in there. What it also includes are those altered notes: b2 is the same as b9 – just referred to differently in chords and in scales; b3 is enharmonic with a #9 (#2); there’s a b5, and the b6 is enharmonic with a #5. So this one scale will serve for any sort of altered dominant chord. It works over straight dominant chords too; used in that way it implies an altered sound, even though the chord itself is unaltered.
Pretty cool, I reckon.
So what is it I’ve been doing for so many years that was so dumb, but actually makes sense? Say I was playing in C major. A minor is the relative minor key, and since guitarists are great ones for playing natural and pentatonic minor scales, it’s very common (and a bit lazy) to play that relative minor. It’s easy to get a little too lazy and think too much in that relative minor, instead of just using the fretboard position. That’s what I did: I thought too much in A minor instead of C major, and used the superlocrian that would apply to the dominant of A minor – which is E. I didn’t like that I did it, because it seemed “wrong” to do so – but I like the slight outside sound it gives, so I kept finding myself doing it. This morning I actually gave it some thought, and was pleasantly surprised to find it’s (mostly) fine.
Taking the C major/A minor/E superlocrian example, we’ll find that the notes of E superlocrian are E (tonic), F (b2), G (b3), Ab (b4), Bb (b5), C (b6), D (b7). The dominant V of C major is G7: G, B, D, F, so you can see we almost have that, and we have an Ab so we’re implying a G7b9. Which is cool.
“Butbutbutbutbut!” You cry: there’s a Bb, not a B! So it’s not a dominant any more. Sadly, that’s absolutely true, but my laziness extends to the patterns I play for the superlocrian, and for convenience’s sake that doesn’t include the b5 (Bb in this case).
So moderate laziness led to a cool implied b9, and more laziness led to no maj/min 3rd conflicts, even though the scale isn’t 100% right. I’m quite happy with that.
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