Thanks so much for your response Christopher. It reminds me of a great Rush song - Hemispheres :-).

I'm glad I brought this up because what you say makes a lot of sense and is much more concrete than what my musician friends would tell me. So, unless you are a true prodigy, hard work is the true path. The best part of it is that with hard work, even a schmuck like me can learn to make good music.

When I get frustrated, I'll keep this in mind.