Tension....

My picking and speed has gotten a lot quicker because Ive been practicing a lot lately, but Ive been feeling some tension in my hand and arm. Id swear when Im picking Im using my wrist, but Im getting tension in my elbow, and my left hand aches a little. What am I doing wrong?

and mabie hold your guitar in a different position? cuz when i play mine really low i usually get tension in my wrists and forearms... when i play in my lap everything works perfectly.

Also try resting you forearm on the top of the body, that way its all wrist not that your still using some arm.

i had that same problem, but not just in my picking arm/hand, it was very severe in my left hand while performing sweeps, i got into a bad habit of twisting my rist whilst doing the hammers/pull-offs to certain sweeps, well it got so bad i had to stop for a while, and cudnt play for a bit, so i sat down and went through EVERYTHING slowly, and pin pointed where the problem was, well got it sussed and re-learnt the technique, with the correct hand postures, and *touch wood* ever since i've been ok :) So it may be worth reading up on correct posture, and MAKE SURE YOU WARM UP, that is a MUST DO, specially if you play speed licks

Hope i didnt go on too much :o

Hey guys,
Thanks for the tips. No more tension. :) I just needed to relax and warm up. The warm water thing works well too.

take a break once a while :D

and don't try to play faster than what speed you're comfortable with. I found that trying to do so actually creates tension. If you improve your speed little by little every day, you'll be surprised how much faster you can go in a week.