Just remember that while it is "Proper Form" to use your pinky, when you don't have to, then don't! You're not really "cheating" by not using it, unless it is making it more difficult for you to play, or ends up sounding bad.

Just like anything else in your everyday life, you probably don't maintain a completely idealized, perfectly-balanced grip when you hold your coffee cup or cellphone. On your instrument, learn the form, exercise your hands, and then do what is the most efficient for you to make the sounds you want to make with it.

The pinky is obviously a great tool and gives you a lot of reach. It'll always take more work than the other fingers. But if you don't learn to use it well, there will be "gaps" when you try to move around. Your hands won't sync up because you're struggling to land that fretting hand while the other one is already picking.

I believe Michael Angelo Batio once talked about forcing himself to play with only his ring and pinky fingers, as an exercise. It definitely works. I used to put myself through all sorts of torture like that, and in the end, it made my hands work like well-trained robots. The problem was, I could fly up and down the neck, but I wasn't really playing anything musically relevant.

So always relate this stuff back to actually making music happen.

-Carl.