OK cool, glad it was a bit of a help:)

With more practice and experience, you'll eventually stumble into the workarounds that work for you and your style.

Just remember to keep that picking hand as relaxed as you can, so that even if your pinky is anchored on the volume knob or somewhere on the pickguard, it's not so locked that you can't adjust it when you need to (for example, moving from strumming to muting, or moving into picking the higher strings).

Thanks for the great question! Keep rockin'!!
Mike