Yes, you are right - with any skill or art or craft, you have to put the time in to get better at it.
Some very personal observations and remarks and philosophisings:
Having a shakuhachi teacher has really done wonders for my shakuhachi playing. I am very lucky, as my teacher is a very skilled shakuhachi player as well as being an excellent and inspiring teacher, and they can teach me techniques at a rate that I can learn them (which is pretty slow!) Not to mention, having regular lessons gives me extra drive to work hard on it, and the hard work is paying off.
Acoustic instruments are in many ways, so different to electronic ones. Electronic instruments are so inviting and somehow easy to get into, at least at a basic level, whereas acoustic instruments tend to need a lot more groundwork and physical skill before you can make nice sounds.
There are hundreds of years of tradition behind acoustic instruments, so the idea of teacher and student is very well established. The electronic music world is much less established, so we tend to figure things out for ourselves.
It also seems to me that when I’m playing electronic instruments, I’m often equal parts playing the instrument, and composing on the fly.
I learn to play the shakuhachi by learning the very old honkyoku pieces one by one, and jamming is secondary.
I really love these differences. I think a lot about them.
Composing and jamming and learning and performing and playing. Hmm.