The answer is yes, you can. It is what I did, back in 2008 when I started playing fighting games. Melty was my 1st, and pretty much the only one I've stuck with. I still play it to this day.
Things that helped me learn:
I played offline with someone I knew, who also happened to be very good. He kicked my ass for like a year straight before I could take matches off him.
I went into training mode for at least an hour each day to practice things like combos, knockdown set-ups and mix-ups. Even just motions that I found difficult.
I played against other people often, mostly who were as good, or better than me. I asked questions, and went into play sessions with a goal in mind. For example, when I was learning to play, the 1st thing I wanted to do was defend well, and so I'd try to find situations where I could shield things.
I watched match footage of good players playing my character against many other characters.
I learned terminology, and combo notation.
I picked one character that I liked, and played with that one until I got comfortable in matches with things like combos, confirming random hits into combos, air counter hit combos, movement, playing the neutral game and spacing pokes, ect. Now I can pretty much play any character I feel like, with a bit of practice.
I made the effort to play the game, and to get others to play the game. So I would drive to others houses to play. I would buy food. I would bring a set-up to play on. Things like that.
I did not care about losing, and you will lose often. I had fun learning the game, and implementing the things I practiced, or new things I'd learned.
Now, I doubt that you have someone else in your area to play offline with. There are still a bunch of people that play online using the caster and discord. It is prolly the best netplay experience you'll find with any 'modern' fighting game.
Hope that helps.
-TexasTim-