Genesis WordPress framework is an interesting proposition.

I would say that it isn’t designed for the faint hearted or non technical theme option tweakers, it is designed to work with the fundamental way WordPress integrates code, using hooks, both action hooks and filter hooks.

If you are not familiar with the way WordPress uses these, then it would be a good idea to get a strong understanding, as it will make like easier.  At some point I may write something about this, but there probably is plenty published out there and the first place to look (although it isn’t simplified) is the WordPress Codex http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks

When I first started with Genesis, I made a point of study the theme and the documentation by StudioPress, as from experience I found it isn’t always best to dive in and make assumptions.  I think my time was well spend, but there probably are better resources than StudioPress to get a grasp.

I spent quite a while writing down a map of all the hooks, both from the documentation and by looking at the code. I think this was a useful exercise as it helped me get into what actually goes on in the framework and a good idea of how it hangs together.

The first useful developer plugin I found was the Genesis Visual Hook Guide, see https://wordpress.org/plugins/genesis-visual-hook-guide/ with this I needn’t have really written anything down, just create a test site and get everything you need displayed on the screen. It is pretty useful when you are starting to attack a layout.