i would say that a lot of speed comes from how well your pick hand is moving. if you are moving your elbow, then that will make you slow as hell, and as said by the jonezter, moving your elbow is only for strumming and lifting your beer. try to concentrate the pick movement into just your wrist and then just into the fingers, and incorporate that into your playing. make the smallest strokes possible so that you dont have to move it too far back into the string.

by the way, are you alternate picking, or are you just using downstrokes. cause alternate picking is the backbone to fast picking. if need be, check out what a bunch of people have to say on here about alternate picking, The Jonezter has a good thing about it.

oh and just keep practicing, cause you'll figure out how to blaze through things with just enough practice.

jesse sutton (canada kicks ass)