I mostly agree with this.

Like, I know what a secondary dominant is because I've had to use it in blues turn arounds- I didn't know that's what some folks would call it, but I knew that in the key of G, I'd often play an A instead of the Am.

And I think that the vocabulary should describe what folks do rather than the doings being driven by the vocabulary.

Most guitar players (and improv folks) that I know have much more theory that the folks who are reading but who generally don't think about what the function of their line is in a larger song.

If you're playing by memory and ear, you have to have some concepts because you can't just read a part.

Those concepts -are- the theory.

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javier123454321 a day ago | parent [-]

Yeah there's just a badge of honor to say that you don't know theory, as though it's something bad if you do, for some people, for some reason

	▲	scarecrowbob a day ago \| parent [-]
		I've seen it and I kind of get it. I have worked with folks who do things for theoretical reasons instead of describing what they do with these ideas. At the same time, I wish more folks would learn to read music, or even be literate enough to read lead sheets- my life would be so much easier if folks could just show up and play the thing without spending hours learning from recordings and making whatever kind of esoteric notations they've made up.