One of my goals for this years was to get a jazz teacher, specifically for guitar.

A layoff killed that goal for the foreseeable future.

Theory has helped me practice like I think you're supposed to. More structured, more analysis. It also tickles the same part of the brain the certain comp sci topics do.

I think it came from wanting to learn how to improv, and then wanting to make my own songs. So I make a few tracks a week, of different genres, depending on what I'm interested in at the time. I've seen improvement, and I take notes about what I learned/what works.