Hybrids - A New Approach to Reharmonization - Lesson I

Jack Pezanelli opens a two-part series on hybrid chords — triads over a bass note, often written as slash chords like F/G — as a systematic tool for reharmonization. Approached this way, hybrids can take your harmony in an entirely new direction, from warm tonal colors to striking dissonance.

What's covered

• What hybrid (slash) chords are and how a triad over a bass note creates sounds like G9sus
• Jack's chart of twelve triad structures over a C bass, ranked by acoustic weight — measurable dissonance rather than subjective taste
• Reading the chart: Arabic numbers for relative dissonance, Roman numerals for the interval between bass and triad
• Three harmonic options at each level, based on the triad's position against the bass note
• Spread voicings — dropping the middle voice an octave for a wider sound
• Harmonizing a C scale melody at different levels: from a warm, James Taylor-like sound at level four to a colder, more dissonant sound at level nine
• Advanced structures at the top of the chart, with references to their use in Stravinsky, and mixing hybrids with conventional chords

Jack closes by applying these structures to the middle section of My Favorite Things, transforming a familiar tune into something harmonically rich and texturally diverse — with deeper exploration to come in Lesson II.