Let me do a pre-emptive explanation for 'scopes: They are great, they help a lot, they can make us more efficient by avoiding backtracking, they can make us more efficient by showing us the need to backtrack, they are optional.
You can still learn how to do it by feel and estimate steel hardness and make reasonable assumption of when an edge is finished on a stone before progressing to the next one. Last night I cleaned up the untaped spine and cleaned up the far side of the bevel (to prevent large flakes of semi-corroded steel from ruining things) of a wedge. Plenty of surface area to feel the metal's conversation with the stones. I really enjoyed just movin' on up through the stones without a worry, simply feeling the difference of the stone, feeling the difference of the metal's surface changing on the stone, moving up and feeling the transformation at every level. I've taken a few edges from a pre-polished stage up through finishing without looking at the edge with a microscope. It was an option, and I've enjoyed it. Not having the option is a bad way to do it.