And if so, how close are we to reaching the limit?
In: 8
Yes, but that number is so huge that you may as well ask if there are a finite number of grains of sand on the beach.
There are only seven chords, meaning that there are only so many ways to put those chords together in a pattern. However, each of those chords has a whole pile of variants, including majors, minors, sharps, sevenths, etc. There are still a finite way to put these together, but it’s a lot bigger now than it was at the beginning of this paragraph when you only had seven.
Then we have tempo. Playing a chord pattern slowly vs fast makes a huge difference and can result in a completely different song.
But the most important thing is the rhythm and phrasing. I can play the chords C, D, and E in the most basic and even way possible, each one held for four beats, and it will sound good enough to write a song. You might take those same chords and chop it up a bit. Maybe you play three C chords in quarter notes and then a D held out for four beats, followed by E with some sort of embellishment guitar lick at the end, all at a faster tempo than mine. You and I have just written two entirely different songs with the same three chords.
And then we add lyrics… maybe I’m writing a love song over those three chords while you’re writing a historical ballad about the French Revolution. Same three chords, but now we are in entirely different arenas while both remaining in the same genre, let’s say indie rock artists.
And then finally we both take our separate songs to our separate bands and begin to build on them. You decide to play your song angry and loud, with a killer guitar solo in the middle. I decide to whisper into the mic while a violin plays softly over my song and use minimal percussion.
So now we have two songs that are C,D, and E, and they are nowhere near the same song.
For the record, I’ll probably like your song better.
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