Point is, of the things I’m good at, none of them was something I was just born doing well at. Some things come easier than others, but none come naturally. I’ve worked hard at everything I’m good at (even if it was so much fun it didn’t seem like work) , and I just assume the next thing I try will take just as much work. So don’t get frustrated, just assume if it’s worth learning then it will take effort. Otherwise everyone would do it. :-)
If you want to get good at the music business, as you imply, well that’s another discussion entirely.
but if I stick with it for a few years I'll probably sound pretty decent.
Thats the frustrating thing with music, both as a beginner and one helping the beginner get started. I’ve been playing mandolin for about two years, almost every day, and i’m just now starting to get to be what I’d call “kinda good”. Meaning I can sit in just about jam, and if they stay in major keys I can keep up even on songs I don’t know, might even improv a decent solo. So on the one hand, I’d say to the beginner, “if you sit down six days a week for thirty minutes of deliberate practice, you can’t help but get decent after a year or two. I’d argue that it’s almost unavoidable.”
But what the beginner hears is, “I’ve gotta do scales for two years before I have any fun.” Which isn’t true, but if your standard is Hendrix I guess that’s what you hear.