Ken,

Sorry for the delay in response.

Yes, and no. Sometimes I work out the fingerings exactly and play it the same way every time. Other times I can do it on the fly without figuring out the exact fingering.

My thought process here was this:

We need to play that 9th fret on the 3rd string started in measure 4. That’s my target melody note I’m looking to hit.

I want to hit that note with my thumb so it has power and stands out.

So I kind of reverse engineered it from there. The previous index finger at the end of measure three is basically just filler.

That T, I, M, I roll is very common though and one you’ll want to master.

If you know the most common Scruggs lick it uses this exact roll in the middle of it.

– Mike