vanblah

Be prepared to go through the "just enough to be dangerous" phase. You can really KILL a piece of music by applying too much theory. It's sort of a catch-22. You find yourself saying, "I can't do that because it's not proper" which is BS because in music (and art in general) anything goes. I like to apply theory AFTER the fact. I don't re-write a piece based on theory ... I explain what I've done using theory.

To me, music theory is just a method for quickly explaining how to do something. When I'm writing music or playing live I disengage the "theory brain" and just "feel" what I'm doing. Theory just gets in the way if I try to apply it while I'm playing a solo or something. It's like constantly checking a thesaurus when writing poetry. Yes, the language may be beautiful and flowery, but is there any substance really there?

Of course, it took a knowledge of theory to get to the point where I can actually play a meaningful solo; just like a great poet has a huge catalog of words and literary devices in their brain.

Read books about theory and find someone who knows more than you and can explain it without making you feel like an idiot.