After hearing everyone's opinion on the subject, I'd like to share my
thoughts.
As I've mentioned before, I never had a formal lesson. I started playing
simple melodies by ear, then studied chord charts, scales, how to form
chords from scales, and pretty soon I've acheived a satisfactory level
of playing Rock/Blues. Someone said that many Rock/Blues/Country players
are proud of their ignorance. I was always against that approach, and
insisted on learning theory by myself, although many of the people I've
played with (including those who *did* have formal training) skipped
this part.
My problems begun when I've decided that I want to start playing Jazz. I
have learned most of what I know about Jazz theory from Marc's Jazz
Primer. When I first read it, I understood the chord/scale relationship,
but couldn't apply the theory to improvisation. The idea of a different
scale for every chord seemed impossible to me, and pretty soon, I gave
up the idea of ever knowing how to do it. Only after I started thinking
of home keys, and staying on the same scale for many changes (that
actually implied different modes of the same scale), what I played
started making sence to my ears. The best thing for me, however, is
learning melodies, and then alter them or create variations on them.
This approach works best for me, but some might find it limiting.
The absurd I find in Jazz music, is that it started as the music of the
uneducated, and today, it is so intelectual that you have to study so
much theory in order to play it right. I agree with Reed, too much
theory _can_ harm your playing, but if you can understand how to
interpertate theory, it is an essential tool.
Oren