tension on lower strings

[snufeldin]

Eric,

I noticed in a thread, I can't find it now, that you noticed you tensed up your arm when you would play on the lower strings. I do the exact same thing, how do you break out of this?

Also when you switch from string to string do you use your arm to switch are do you just bend your wrist more?

[EricV]

Well, I had that twice... for a while I would tense up when playing on the lowest strings, then later, I found myself tensing ( ? ) up when playing on the upper strings.
What helped me was to simply pay attentention to keep my arm realxed and:
I would do the "DOES THAT WORK"-method, where I´d not use the left hand, and simply to pick the low E-String as fast as possible and for like a minute or so. That way, I could see whether I was relaxed, whether I would be able to increase speed with actual licks etc.
I´d memorize the exact picking-motion and hand-positioning I´d do when picking that fast, and use it when going back to actual exercise.

And b) When I move my hand, I do so by moving the arm, not bending the wrist. Not much motion necessary, and it helps to keep the write relaxed. So my hand-movement stays pretty much the same on all strings, I just bring the hand in position by moving the arm
Eric