I went to a post holiday jam night a few years back and there was a guy there who could pick up a guitar and rip solos off as well as anybody I ever heard. However, as soon as a drummer, bass player and me on keyboards joined him, we realized he had zero idea about "music". He had no feel for when chord changes were coming, where they could go... I guess it's correct to say he had no ear. Theory doesn't make you a good player. Playing makes you a good player. Being a good player doesn't teach you theory, unless you develop a sense of structure. You can be a whiz at one without the other, but that beautiful marriage of people who are skilled at both is a joy. When the jam leader holds up 4 fingers, if you don't know that means you go from the root chord to the 4th chord in the scale, you are lost. But you don't have to know WHY it's the 4th chord in the scale, just that if you are in E you go to A. After years of playing and doing it correctly that segment of the playing population knows theory without knowing they know it. Tom Bukovac, on his youtube channel, once put up a clip of his section of the studio he was in that day. After seeing him say MANY times "I don't know theory for **** (I put the asterisks in)", he showed that taped to his wall were beautifully written chord charts that could not have been written by someone who doesn't know theory. I mean they included things like Bm7b5. If you know to make your chart include a flatted 5, you know theory. Maybe not ALL of theory, but that's a good, strong working knowledge of chord interrelationships. Which is theory. People can PLAY that same Bm7b5 and not KNOW they are playing it. Neither one is better than the other. Just different. Music has a lot of pastel in it. Everything isn't the same solid primary colors.

So yeah, we've all known people at different stages of proficiency. I know keyboard players in the area that make me want to never play again. I know a producer that is so good I never want to try to mix again. Sax players that make me embarrassed to play in front of them. They are a unique mix of playing skill and theory wise to varying degrees. All equally great!