URIAH,GUITARDAVE,JLYNNB1;
THANKS.
THEORY 
Here's how I look at it; Music is communication.
When you wish to communicate as clearly as possible with others that you wish to speak the same language with, it's best to learn as much about the language as possible so that it helps you do just that.
If you want to learn how to read, then it's best to start at the beginning with the alphabet and then from there you familiarize yourself with small words and then larger words and then sentences and punctuation and grammar and so on. The rules of the language are there not to hinder but to help.
It's the same with the spoken word; start slow and small and progress from there.
Along the way you'll introduce dynamics into your writing and speaking so thateverythingdoesnotsoundsomonotoneand
boring...
To me, music is no different. Music theory is not there to hinder but to help.
Now, some would say "there's some great blues players who don't know any theory and they do just fine" and to them I'd say 'Sure, they do just fine PLAYING BLUES but try to get them to write anything outside a I-IV-V pattern or groove to something other than a shuffle or a jump groove or solo using something other than a pentatonic or blues scale and you'll hear silence.
There are those exceptions to the rule who seemed to have been abundantly blessed with the musical gift from a young age and yet they didn't study nor do they know much about music theory yet much of what the do musically just comes naturally.
I'm thinking Stevie Wonder and Todd Rundgren are 2 people who fit into this category.
God bless them.
For the rest of us, there's perpetual hard work and study.
