When i practice chromatics and use the metronome at my speed, my pick hand's elbow starts to ache. Is that normal? Or is it because the way im picking is wrong?

:no:
You shouldn't be using your arm at all. The trick is to use your wrist and over time you will just use your thumb and first finger in a circular motion.

Your arm should never get tired if your picking correctly.

I knew something was wrong.... but thumb and first finger in a circular motion? I read an article that i shouldnt be using my fingers but wrist?

all these while i was doing it the wrong way...

I read an article that i shouldnt be using my fingers but wrist?

Using your thumb and first finger in a circular motion is a trick. If your cross picking this is must!

never say never!

I agree with what MOD said. I do alot of speed picking myself and over time you will start to use more of your wrist and the circular motion thing as mentioned.

Dont want to unnecessarily start a new thread, so is picking with the finger and thumb in a circular motion the way it should be? i have been trying to use my wrist ever since i found using my entire arm makes my playing rough and "not clean". I heard Al Di Meola say we ought to use the wrist all the time.
I pick with some effort at 135 BPM (4 notes per beat), which is pretty much my fastest, and i've been stuck there for a year. Am i supposed to allow the joints of my fingers to do the picking, cause i found sometimes they come in but i've been forcing myself to limit it's movements only to when i'm moving from one string to the other?

Most people do use your wrist but players like EVH and others use just their thumb and first finger in a circular motion with some wrist movement. It takes many years to get this down.

It'd be great if some of you guys could post some links to some picking techniques pages. Itd be good to have other tips too....esp. to improve tremolo picking. cause i suck at it when it comes to using my wrist or fingers. They say its all down-hill after you get the tremolo picking right with the hand (not the arm thank you cause thats how i get by on stage right now)

[Edited on 8/31/2005 by ZeldaMentalEvil]

I too have always picked using my wrist. But lately I've begun to wonder if there is a better way of picking. If you look at Malmsteen it appears that his hand and arm float over the strings. And when I pick from the wrist I can feel tension setting in especially if I try to pick as fast as I can. I've begun to start moving my forearm more and the tension disappears. Suffice it to say I believe there is more than one approach to picking.

For most of my speed technique I use economy picking. Sweep picking is also a nice added bonus to this style of playing.