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fretboard vs theory?

Music is comparable to a language; if you are articulate in it you know all the relevant rules. You may think you don't know what a past participle is but you are capable of using it in a sentence you know what it is. (Yes you have used a past participle in a sentence).
The same thing applies to fluent musicians who don’t know the rules officially.
Personally I recommend you learn as many of the rules as you can. No one has ever suffered from leaning too much.