For me, it suddenly clicked after a decade or so. The same thing happened with improvisation and keeping excellent time. I felt like I was always struggling until one day whatever I heard in my head came out my fingers.
It's just that the process is very gradual and takes a long time. I suppose the 10k hour rule applies here.
For me it was gradual build up. Also I forgot to mention that I never put that much time into learning music theory. I was too busy with programming (that's why we're here right? haha)
It's just that the process is very gradual and takes a long time. I suppose the 10k hour rule applies here.