No, don't kick theory aside. Another way to think of theory is as a set of lego blocks. In Lego, every block has a purpose and to build a house we need to put the right blocks together in the correct order.
In music we replace the lego blocks with chords and notes. To "build" a song, we need to find the chords that fit together to give us a sound that is pleasing to us and to get those cool solos, we need the right notes that fit in with our chords.
Here is a very simple example:
In the key of C major you have the following chords:
C major - D minor - E minor - F major - G major - A minor - B diminished - 7 chords.
With the exception of the last chord - B diminished - you could put any of the other 6 together and it would sound pretty good. For instance if you play C major - F major - G major in a strum it would sound pretty good, and would be a classic 1 - 4 - 5 progression. A lot of music has been written using a 1 - 4 - 5 progression.
This is very simplistic, but just think along the lines that theory just helps us identify which chords and notes work together.
Your response is very spot on and appreciated.
So if someone tells you "this song is in the key of C Major" you immediately know that the chords you listed are the sumation of all the notes in the song?
I have this mixed sense of the lessons should really blend theory with chords vs talk about some notes, then show how they meld and create the chords. But you have to have a good short payoff process to help envigorate people to continue, so I get the chord focus, since most people just want to know how to play X song.
I want to understand what makes the chords and why, but my worry is that digging into that now is a quagmire.
