The four stages of competence describe a familiar path. First, you do not know what you do not know. Then you recognise the gap. With practice you can perform the skill, but only with concentration. Eventually it becomes available without being consciously thought through.
1. The gap is invisible
You may not hear that your subdivisions are uneven, or know that the same harmony can be found elsewhere on the neck. Progress begins when the missing skill becomes perceptible and valuable.
2. The struggle becomes visible
Now you can hear the timing problem but cannot always correct it. You understand the interval but still have to calculate it. This stage feels worse because your awareness has developed faster than your ability. That discomfort is useful information.
3. You can do it with attention
The skill works when you concentrate. You can name every note, play the subdivision, or find the chord tones, but the task consumes most of your mental bandwidth. This is competence, but it is not yet freedom.
4. The skill becomes background
After enough correct repetition, the skill stops demanding the foreground. You can keep time while listening to the singer, find the harmony while shaping a line, or move through the neck while responding to the band.
The point of fundamentals is not to think about them forever. It is to make them dependable enough that you can think about the music.
What this changes about practice
Understanding is not the finish line. Ask how much attention the skill still requires. Can you use it in another key, position, tempo, or musical context? Can you combine it with another task? Practice continues until the concept becomes stable enough to support what comes next.