Riding a motorcycle is very much like playing a musical instrument: Making noise is easy, giving a satisfying performance that works aesthetically takes a certain amount of rehearsal. Unlike musical instruments, missed turns hurt more than missed notes 8-)
One can liken the road to a musical score, the motorcycle to the instrument. The performer attempts to make the bike do what the road requires. Timing and touch are what it's all about. Emotion plays a role too; like musicians, motorcyclists have "on" days and "off" days. The best of both can control their emotions to satisfy the demands of the score, whether it's by a famous composer or a completely anonymous highway engineer.
Like a piano teacher, a riding instructor demonstrates required skills and shows how they work when done right. It's up to the student to practice those skills until they're automatic and instinctive. Riding lessons provide essential perspective, but that's all. Mine came from Michael Cowan of Motorcycle Safety Training Centers. Most prospective riders will blanch at the cost of private instruction, but my experience with Michael amply rewarded the cost. Riders on a budget will find an extraordinary bargain in lessons from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation.
I never cared enough about playing a piano to practice and only started practicing seriously on a motorcycle out of fear that if I didn't get good I'd get hurt. Parking a car at work was $100/month, motorcycles parked free and it was only a couple of miles to commute. Hills made bicycles and walking impractical.
After about 4000 miles on a little 200cc dualsport (in what has to be the best learning environment possible) I suddenly discovered that riding could be fun. The epiphany came when the bike suddenly seemed weightless. I'd discovered how to turn correctly. A small but necessary achievement.
This didn't mean I knew how to ride (I surely don't, even now), but it did teach me that I could develop enough skill to have fun. It took much more study to have fun consistently, and some problems, like Mix Canyon Road remain a challenge to graceful riding, with brief moments of enlightenment.
Like playing the piano, there's a lot of drudge practice to work through in a systematic way before things get interesting.
Riding isn't for everyone and genuinely useful to a very few. For those few, you'll not regret learning to play!