The pyramid is mostly useful when you're establishing that finishing bevel. However you can use nothing but the pyramid and get a butterknife-dull blade shave ready. Here's what I do:
1) Establish the initial bevel with 4k (maybe starting with 1k if the blade is really dull, especially with heavy grinds)
2) Take a few swipes on the 8k just to see the progress of the bevel (check out Lynn's tips, he made a very good note on that)
3) Then I apply a variation of the pyramid to finish the blade, sometimes just a few 1-5 strokes and sometimes a couple of full pyramids, depending on the steel/grind.
4) Finish on 0.5micron CrO2