The simple answer to this question is no, not every piece of music can be played with just chords, however, there there are many that can be played just using chords.
Probably almost every piece of music that you care to name can probably be played using chords. Certainly popular modern music and jazz can be played with chords because they were composed that way.
The only music that I can think of that couldn’t really be played is music from the Baroque era, where it is polyphonic in design – that is, that it is written with melodies and countermelodies interweaving and overlapping.
As I have already stated, almost all of the music that you care to play or even care to name, would almost definitely be able to be played using chords.
I have made it clear in several blog posts published before this one that my personal bias is towards classical music, it always has been and probably always will be, but even with my bias for classical music and playing the music exactly the way the composer intended, I still think that playing chords is a great choice for some.
Using chords to play a piece of music is actually a really effective way of being able to simplify music, so that it is easier to play, while still sounding like an authentic rendition of that piece of music. Conversely, using chords is a great way of adding and embellishing the music, so that it has someone’s personal flair added. In a lot of ways, this is what happens with jazz piano.
Almost all music that the average person likes and listens to, can be played using chords. Some music is written to be played as a series of chords, particularly modern popular music. Obviously there are pieces of music that are easily converted into a progression of chords. There is one question, that hasn’t been addressed and that is: What is the ideal way of playing the piano – is it using chords or not? The answer is that it depends. It depends on a person’s skill set and how well they can or cannot read music. It can also depend on a person’s skill level, whether they are a beginner or they are more advanced. What really determines whether a piece should be played using chords or not, is whether the person in question wants to or not.
Getting back to the title of this blog post of: Can any piece of music be played with chords and should it be played with chords? The answer really boils down to the answer of this question: Do you want to play a particular piece using chords?