well, my setup is ok i suppose, i have a C* mouthpiece and i have a rovner ligature. and i had my horn worked on probably 4 or 5 months ago. Everything seems to working fine on the horn other than at times the pads stick but the good o'le dollar trick usually fixes that one. Right now i am focused on jazz and improve, i would really like to progress better on improve, and i know what to do, its just a matter of doing it in my practice routine. But alotof times i just like classical because im better at it, and i have a really good tone im told. So its more fun to play the things your good at, but there also inlies my problem and i just solved my own question in the first post. I play the things im good at more than the things im bad at, so thats probably my problem. Alrighty, thanks for the response sax manic. And thanks for the advice saxgrobie, and yes the good ones are the ones we hate, haha.

First don't judge your progress by comparing to someone else. Whether the person next to you stinks or blows the bell off the horn doesn't change how you play a bit. Record yourself when you practice and listen to it objectively. Work on your weaknesses to improve. Save a tape you like once in a while and listen to it whet it is few months old. If you've been practicing regularly you will most likely notice a lot of improvement. Often progress is slow and in small increments. The key is to stay with it.

calm down, take a break, and give it some rest... You're not going to become the greatest sax player in 6 years (or however long you have been playing) take a look around this site... yes there are a lot of highschool kids and college students, but there are also a lot of older people who just play for fun. Playing a sax (or anything) isn't just for the short term getting girls and the spotlight in highschool, it's a lifelong hobby. so yeah, just take a break and pratice less maybe find something else to do in the mean time. Dont' burn yourself out! I did that once with clubbing... I went out every weekend for about a year, now I rarely do. I kinda miss it but I really have no ambition to go back. and with improve... listen, listen, listen, and try to feel the music. Sure it's nice to have all these tricks and licks to play. but it's also nice to be able to come up with something right then. Besides, it's more fun to listen to when the person is making it up rather than just doing something they praticed. good luck man.

A C* with a rovner lig is about the worst you could do for jazz, I would imagine your tone and flexibility is frustrating you. The C* gives no freedom, and the rovners deaden your sound. Get an Otto Link or Meyer hard rubber to start out. Try a 6* first. It takes a good month or two to really get it blowing and get a noticeable difference in tone; but after that you'll be way happier.

i just bought my sax a lil bit back but i feel maybe you should few kids actually own there own but i think it might be time im entering junior year and its ALOT harder my practicing has suffered SOOOOOO Much cuz of serious amounts of homework...

dude, what'syournmameguy. calm down like chia said. you're not doing anything wrong, you've just acheived "socratian wisdom"; you realize how much better you can be. it happens to every good player at some point, you just do what you can, and try to note your successes.