clutnuckle

Err... What? Since when is "musical theory" the "box" of music (ie. what we try to escape)? I would assume conventionalism as a general concept is the "box" which he is trying to avoid, and much of conventional music is more ignorant of musical theory than for it. The most derivative music out there tends to avoid theory and just dives straight into generic cliches. In contrast, plenty of the most abstract, experimental and daring music ever made was well-informed by music theory, and was interested in using its objective truths to bring music to higher levels of sophistication. People who assume musical theory and thinking outside the box have to live separately are dead wrong.

Plus, I don't know about you guys, but back when I was first playing my guitar, I would come up with an idea and would have no idea how to express it. Now that I have at least a mild musical theory background, I can actually bring my spontaneous thoughts into action because I know how intervals work, how chords compliment one another, etc. It's much easier to play outside the box when you aren't stopping every second bar to think of what chord you want to go next.

That quote is exactly like saying evolutionary biology is stupid because it doesn't let you think we arrived on planet Earth ten thousand years ago.

DoctorSoft

I'll be honest with you, I don't know enough about music to argue back. I just thought it was a cool quote.