I think it is different because that guitarist on the band that released a CD is a famous musician, at least famous enough to get a contract and release a CD. So I, as a hobbyist, don't expect to be as good.
But now there are thousands of regular people non-professional musicians on youtube (or wherever) who are a hundred times better than me, so it can become discouraging.
When younger I liked to play amateur (very, very amateur) basketball, but Michael Jordan never showed up at our court.
OTOH I did have that experience once, in kart racing, where a top-level professional, a then-current Indy car driver showed up at our local track! It was a humbling experience, but very educational. I'm a good car (and kart) racer at an amateur level, but this pro guy was so many orders of magnitude better than any of us at the club. It was also eye-opening to consider that this pro was only a mid-pack racer in Indycars, the top guys were much faster than him.
If I'd met someone like you describe I'd have challenged him to a race: what else is there but to learn!
And so much of life is necessarily chance - so go for it!