I know I come across here as a bit of a philistine, or the archetypal rock musician, but in truth this is only part of the story.

I think being able to understand how something works is great and I like to do it myself wherever possible, but I don't like to see knowledge being confused with talent. A colleague who was heavily into esoteric theories, used to write music which was considered by all who heard it to be unsurpassed in it's mediocrity. Basically, he became so involved in the process, that he lost sight of the end product. When he was being honest, even he would admit to not liking it.

I like to walk the middle ground. Use the theory to good advantage, but don't let it detract from why we learnt it in the first place.

ROG.