I've been working though Joseph Alexander's "Fingerstyle Blues Guitar" as a way to supplement ACBU and focus specifically on fingerstyle basics.
I'm a fairly novice player, and all the fingerstyle songs that I know how to play so far (before starting this book) are fairly simple travis-picking style songs with the thumb on the low 3 strings playing a bassline and the fingers on the high strings playing a melody. When doing this, my fingers are pretty much always planted on the same strings with the ring on the first string, middle on the 2nd, and index on the 3rd. This is fairly intuitive now and feels comfortable.
While working through chapter 1 of this book, one of the first pieces of advice it gives is to never use the same finger to play the same string twice. This book is the only place I've heard this, but it forms the basis for the method that the rest of the book builds upon. There are some great exercises to build up this skill by alternating between fingers on the picking hand (eg alternating between ring and middle or middle and index). However, I've hit a bit of a wall when the melodies start to get complex enough that my fingers are tripping over themselves. I know the answer is that there are no hard and fast rules, but if you were an absolute beginner learning this, which fingers would you use to pick the strings in order to build the best habits? See image for an example exercise:
I've tried alternating always between ring and middle, or ring and index. I've tried ring and middle on the E and B strings and then middle and index on the G and D strings (this just kind of started to feel more natural than using only the middle and ring fingers). I've tried alternating between ring, middle, index through the whole piece.
I know I need to try to stick with one method, and I need to consciously think about it while I'm doing it otherwise I start picking the same string with the same finger in sequence.
I see some blues players playing with only the thumb and index, and I tried this and it felt good and I could play it, but that's probably setting myself up for bad habits down the road. I'm also very aware that I'm probably overthinking this!
Sorry for the wall of text! Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!
I'm a fairly novice player, and all the fingerstyle songs that I know how to play so far (before starting this book) are fairly simple travis-picking style songs with the thumb on the low 3 strings playing a bassline and the fingers on the high strings playing a melody. When doing this, my fingers are pretty much always planted on the same strings with the ring on the first string, middle on the 2nd, and index on the 3rd. This is fairly intuitive now and feels comfortable.
While working through chapter 1 of this book, one of the first pieces of advice it gives is to never use the same finger to play the same string twice. This book is the only place I've heard this, but it forms the basis for the method that the rest of the book builds upon. There are some great exercises to build up this skill by alternating between fingers on the picking hand (eg alternating between ring and middle or middle and index). However, I've hit a bit of a wall when the melodies start to get complex enough that my fingers are tripping over themselves. I know the answer is that there are no hard and fast rules, but if you were an absolute beginner learning this, which fingers would you use to pick the strings in order to build the best habits? See image for an example exercise:
I've tried alternating always between ring and middle, or ring and index. I've tried ring and middle on the E and B strings and then middle and index on the G and D strings (this just kind of started to feel more natural than using only the middle and ring fingers). I've tried alternating between ring, middle, index through the whole piece.
I know I need to try to stick with one method, and I need to consciously think about it while I'm doing it otherwise I start picking the same string with the same finger in sequence.
I see some blues players playing with only the thumb and index, and I tried this and it felt good and I could play it, but that's probably setting myself up for bad habits down the road. I'm also very aware that I'm probably overthinking this!
Sorry for the wall of text! Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!
There is always a time to buckle down and try something uncomfortable, and then figure out if and how to use it tastefully, whatever it is (I think so anyway). 
