Originally Posted by: pennyanmurphThis is helpful, but at this point could be, and needs to be condensed into a much simpler version. Remember, a lot of us reading this will not understand 10% of what was just written.[/quote]
I honestly don't know how much more I could condense it than I already have. I thought I did a good job of putting in one forum post what is typically contained in a whole chapter (or two!) of a music theory book. :)
[QUOTE=pennyanmurph]A lot of great music was written, like you said, with one, two, or three chords.

I did not say that. I don't know of any song I would consider great that only has one chord.

I only stated that it is possible to make a song with only one chord and that it has been done. I don't know of any with only two chords either that suit my personal taste. I would have to go with at least a bare minimum of three chords. And they have to be voice lead with competence. And personally I like a little more complexity than that.

But this doesn't mean there is an automatic equation stating "X number of chords equals a good or beautiful song". Whether or not a song is well constructed has more to do with how the voices in the chords are organized than simply the number of chords.