The fact that you said “my right arm and wrist feels tension” was the BIGGEST sign to me that you’re using the wrong muscles of your picking arm. You should not be using your ‘arm’ at all for picking, but rather using it to move your hand across the strings. Think of it like this…
If you check out Santiago’s recent post about “alternate picking issues”, I made a similar response and I’ll copy and paste my answer here. I’ll really try to get to a “body mechanics for picking” video today to help you out!
Here’s what I wrote on Santiago’s post:
If I can give you an image of what you’re suppose to do, WATCH Syn’s right hand in those videos (Syn’s alternate picking Etude) when he plays it slower and then when he plays it faster. You’ll notice HOW he moves the pick changes. In order to improve your alternate picking faster, you must relax the arm and focus a majority of the movement on your fingers of your picking hand. It’s like instead of moving your whole arm or even your wrist, let the movement come from JUST the fingers you’re holding the pick with.
