I'd +1 that 100% there are plenty of useful, small and quite simple but great sounding pre-amp, EQ, drive/distortion circuits that are well worth doing. If they work first time then you have something good, and if there are a few isssues, well at they're at least relatively simple to sort out, then onwards and upwards
A few successful simple builds does wonders for confidence, and a few simple issues resolved does wonders for your confidence that you can resolve issues
Crawl, walk, run, run into brick walls
ask for help, learn, keep going