Hi NWP,
You MUST have some theoretical understanding of theory (whether it be Jazz/Classical/Indian/Arabic…or whatever) in order to create.
The distinction between the most common two types of musician is that some people need LOTS of tuition and studying (ie. those who go to music college), and people who have (say) 6 x months tuition and can (for instance) be shown a simple ‘12 Bar Blues’ progression and then they advance and advance at an incredible rate, and get so much milage out of a short amount of tuition and snippet of theory. Most of us are the former and of course the very talented and gifted are the latter.
Paul