Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. I will pass them along!
The elbow tucking is similar to instruction I heard from a classical instructor. Basically, his way of describing it was to get your arm hanging straight down towards the ground so you could use the weight of your arm to fret as opposed to just clamping pressure.
I take no credit for that tip. It was a Steve Kaufman tip. I probably also did it somewhat unconsciously but doing it purposefully now, a bit. Don’t want to over do it. “fretting the E string” - you mean the low E string, so it’s an F bass tone? So then basically it’s a full barre chord. Yeah takes strength though on the first fret.
What a beautiful melody.Ben your performance is perfect, It is a great pride for me to be your student.