He began the exercises. Playing a melody on a single string until the fret markers disappeared and only intervals remained. Improvising without a key center, using only rhythm and silence. He realized he’d spent two decades decorating the walls of a room he’d never bothered to enter.

Goodrick takes the opposite approach. He presents a concept—a diagram, a mode, a voicing—and then stops. He doesn't tell you how to practice it. He asks you to figure it out. The book operates on the premise that the teacher cannot learn for the student. It forces the guitarist to become their own teacher, a concept Goodrick refers to as the "Teacher-Student" duality within oneself.