16th-note pendulum strumming

I have two questions that I have not been able to find an answer for

1) Ive read that when fingerpicking it is best to not just use your index finger and thumb, Ive found this to be more comfortable. Is this a bad habit that I should break?

2) Could someone explain "16th-note pendulum strumming" for me, I am learning the song soulshine http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/w/warren_haynes/soulshine_crd.htm and it says to use this type of strumming pattern

Using just your thumb and index finger is a very limiting way to fingerpick (unless you're Merle Travis) - What are the other fingers doing all this time? Just hanging around? Get them working (Pinky usually excepted, being too short to do anything useful)

I don't know about pendulum strumming - never heard of it and couldn't open the link for some reason.

Here is the song, if that helps
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=109767982

I googled pendulum strumming and got the following site.

http://www.acousticguitar.com/lessons/Simple_Sync/1.shtml

That ought to answer your question. It just means to keep your arm moving constantly even if you aren't strumming.

fancy names apart this only means that the song (which i've never heard) is based on some syncopated sixteen notes pattern like

dd/ddu/ud/ddu

or

dd/ddu/uu/dudu

Syncopated means in a nut that you have to miss some downstrum (i.e. in the first pattern you miss third beat first downstrum, while in the second one you miss both third beat downstrum)

to spot the differnce see this non syncopated sixteen note pattern

dd/ddu/dd/ddu

Since sixteen notes are quite fast even at slow rime (most ballada are usually played in a range between 70 to 85 bpm), the only way to miss a note is to keep your hand constantly moving and hit the strings only when needed

It is far from being easy for a beginner, so I suggest you to do it in a few steps:

a) learn to play a non syncopated sixteen note pattern like dd/ddu/dd/ddu or dd/dudu/dd/dudu

b) when you're sure that you can play it alongside a recording, learn to play sixteen notes syncronicing your foot with your right hand: each time you tap your foot you have to play a fast down-up, the same each time you rise it;

c) play your previous pattern syncronicing your hand with your foot

d) then when you can do all the previous excercises try to learn a syncopated pattern

Cheers

Matteo

p.s. a metronome or a tutorial cd will help you a lot