Is it the Raven Spiral Guide to Music Theory?
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Moved this thread to The Studio.
Indeed it was the Raven Spiral!
Good to know there is still deep institutional knowledge here 
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I can kind of see both sides tbh, I can see that knowing some theory is really important and it does open a lot of doors to creativity.
But I do see the other side of the coin where, for example, when I play guitar, I do feel quite shackled to the theory that I have learned. The muscle memory I have built for scales, etc, usually always leads me down a similar road when I’m improvising or writing. I get that’s probably more of a skill issue there also, and if i got better I could probably break out of that.
But I find that in contrast, i’m a terrible keys player, I don’t really know any scales or chords by heart , but for some reason I find that when i’m composing on keys, sitting there and figuring out things note by note and recording things small chunks at a time (or just using midi depending), I seem to to be able to express musical ideas that a more true expression of myself than I would on the guitar.
But I guess I could also say that playing keys is just forcing me to apply the theory that years of guitar playing taught me more methodically and makes me use my musical intuition instead of muscle memory.
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Totally understand. I’ve played guitar for almost 40 years so I get the inclination to automatically hit an open G when you pick it up (or a E power chord if there’s distortion lol), same scales and patterns, etc. It’s just…comfortable. I think that’s human nature to travel down familiar paths and it can be an effort to break out.
But I’d argue that if you’re ending up in similar places every time, you’re not talking about music theory, you’re talking about habits created from learning music theory (or just learning an instrument at all). I know in my experience when I just sit down and noodle around or try things out and I end up in familiar places it’s not because I’m saying “in two bars I’m going to switch to C-Dorian and drop to 80bpm to contrast the previous passage”, I’m just doing the things that my brain automatically likes which is born out of hammering theory into my skull and retaining the stuff that makes me feel good. I’d guess in the absence of theory you’d develop the same sort of habits and fallbacks because that’s just how people work.
Your example of guitar vs keys is a great example - your intuition in the smaller context of guitar is not the same as your intuition on other instruments or composition as a whole. The more familiar you are with a context, the more work it is to say “lets try something different”. Sometimes different kicks out the jams, sometimes it’s just frustrating and non-productive. It’s another kind of intuition and self-awareness to know when to do what.
Broadly, I think art as a whole implies intention - like there’s a sound or a feel in your head that you want to get out into the world. Sometimes theory does that for you (these notes and timbres evoke this feel, etc), sometimes experimentation and intuition gets you there, and sometimes you have to turn things on their head to get the creative juices flowing.
That’s my original point - if you feel that theory or intuition or habit is holding you back creatively, that’s your problem. Fight it. Change it. Do something else. Make a conscious choice about how you approach your art if the normal solutions aren’t doing it for you. That’s not the fault of theory, that’s the fault of how it’s being applied. If and when it’s a problem is something everyone has to gauge for themselves.
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Yeah you’re right what im talking is more a force of habit than theory. Even within the context of applying theory creativily, like modal playing or key changes etc it’s the habits that are mostly taking over the way that I go about phrasing and things like that.
I think youre right and my point doesn’t really apply to the nay sayers of music theory because it’s more about breaking habits and how new worlfflows/instruments can do that for you.
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For me, it’s less about “… a skill issue…” and more about concentrated listening and experimenting until I find a sound that intrigues me. By “concentrated listening” I mean without any thoughts about theory in mind. Once I find an intriguing motif, then theory helps guide how to develop it.
Music first, Theory follows!
I like this approach, try to just go by feeling at first and then use theory to expand on it 
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I always enjoy your insights @1roomstudio
Thanks for another good thread!
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