Hi @thanson , welcome to TAC – I believe you made a great choice in coming to this site to continue your guitar journey. When I hear someone say they want to use their fingers instead of a pick, then I know I’m addressing some who has experience playing a particular style of guitar. I want to second what @Loraine is saying. You should try to do the lesson as presented, because it is about learning fundamental skills for the different styles of guitar playing. You will have plenty of opportunity to work on finger style skills elsewhere in the courses. Learning techniques of different playing styles helps build a more well rounded guitar player😎 That being said, if you want to try playing something finger style that is clearly meant to be played with a pick, more power to you – but you will have to use a pick at some point in your journey, so why not start now?
As for using the pinkie on the 4th fret, NO. You should be using the ring finger on the 4th fret. Each finger is used on a designated fret – in this case, index on fret 2, middle on fret 3, ring on fret 4 and pinkie on fret 5. I know that you’re scratching your head and saying that I’m only fretting (playing) strings on 2 frets (2nd & 4th frets) so what’s the difference! You’re building muscle memory, so if you don’t do it properly now, it’ll come back later to bite you. When you do the “Blues Boogie”, you’ll definitely get the opportunity to use all your fingers covering a 4 fret stretch, and you’ll put that muscle memory to good use👍