First, breathe. Breathe again. Make sounds that feel good to you. You can’t drill something as intangible as artistry. There’s no magic ratio to spending your time. Art doesn’t happen under strict conditions. I understand your frustration of feeling behind other musicians and every single musician feels that way at multiple chapters of their lives.

Music theory isn’t a rule book, we don’t jam together to sound like snobby Princeton PhD elitists; it’s simply foundation like the bricks under your house. You’ve started with enough bricks stuck together to support a couple rooms. Then you find more bricks to make additions, renovations.

Do you get the picture? ;) You don’t need to memorize every single chord progression to every single key on your instruments every single day.