I notice a lot of guitar players, when they play their pinky curls up into ball and comes on when they use it. I also notice those are the people who rarely use the pinky past the 12th fret. I was taught classical guitar at first, so I have a habit of always keeping the pinky at equal level with all other fingers. It makes sense to me too. The frets get smaller, and the pinky is pretty small too...so use it! So in answer to the question. I use my pinky a lot after the 12fret.