Exercises, scales, rhythm, timing, practice, et al can definitely be holding you back. It might help to view those "building blocks" as aspects you can work on that limit your playing less. For me, practicing these things allows me to think LESS about scales, timing, etc by increasing my muscle memory and confidence, which allows me to focus on the music itself and get lost therein when I'm playing.

To use some ambiguous terms, you can hit every note "right", but that's a very small part of what make music "good"-- that's more about hips moving and heads bobbing.