I'm surely not the fastest but i'm no slow poke. when i'm jamming with faster guitarists i use anticipation, timing, and structure to my advantage. this makes me seem much faster than them. a guitar doodling about all by it's self is not as sexy as the right shred at the right time.

if you use more forearm then relax your shoulder- that works for me

circular picking also kicks but- i play a lot of world/flamenco music. sometimes i don't use a pick and i'm just as fast but i like to accent up picks to create polyrhythms which can create even more shredding deception.