Hey Indiana,
Many years ago when I was first getting started playing jazz, I made a fairly big mistake.
This is a mistake I don't want you to make, so allow me to explain:
I was always the kind of person that struggled with math and science in school. My brain just didn't seem to work as easily that way.
Of course, I thrived in the creative side of things - writing stories, playing music by ear, building things...etc.
So when I was in high school sitting at my first music theory class, I immediately thought it probably wasn't for me. It felt like the math of music. No thanks!
When I started getting into jazz, it seemed to me there were two approaches being taught: the "learn everything only by ear" approach, and the "learn endless amounts of complex jazz theory" approach.
It seemed to me that the "learn by ear" approach was more common amongst the musicians out there in the scene playing the gigs, while the "learn theory" approach was more of a focus at educational institutions (at least this was my perception).
You can guess which one I gravitated most towards - the "learn everything by ear approach."
And honestly, that approach seemed to make the most sense for jazz. So many of my teachers were telling me to focus on that over theory, and it seemed the jazz greats often learned the music by ear.
So for years I avoided most theory, and wrote it off as nothing more than book smarts that led to mechanical, uncreative solos.
However, as years passed and I continued to mature as a musician, I began to realize there were massive gaps in my knowledge about music and how jazz worked.
I felt limited, and like my progress was slowing down.
I had some teachers in college, both professors and jazz musicians I was taking private lessons with, that began showing me more jazz theory.
The more I began to open my mind to it, even when I didn't understand everything completely, the more I began to have light bulb moments.
Suddenly, puzzle pieces that were missing began to fall into place. Musical ideas I could play on my instrument felt "complete" in my brain once I understood more about how they worked.
It's not that I was going down the "wrong" path. To this day, I believe with conviction that learning music by ear is a primary skill anyone who wants to play jazz should focus on.
It's just that I failed to realize how effective using music theory for jazz could be - especially when combined with my learning by ear efforts.
When learning to play music, we need to be using every tool that is available to us. Music theory is a tool, and sometimes it's the tool that best suits the job.
Is it always the best tool for the job? No, not always.
But spending some of your time and effort on jazz theory is always going to pay off, and improve your overall abilities as a musician.
And sometimes, it may just be that big thing that makes it all click in your brain.
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