Why Your Practice Isn’t Working

Practising more… but getting nowhere?

If you’ve ever finished a practice session thinking,

“I’ve put the time in… so why am I not improving?” — you’re not alone.

This is one of the most common frustrations we hear from adult learners trying to learn saxophone online.

The good news? It’s usually not about how much you practise.

It’s about how you practise.

In this article, I’ll walk you through three key mistakes that could be holding you back—and more importantly, what to do instead so you can start to play saxophone with confidence again.

Practising without a clear plan

One of the biggest issues I see is players working hard… but not working smart.

You might be:

• Jumping between too many things
• Only playing what you already enjoy
• Or just picking up the sax and “seeing what happens”

The result? Little to no consistent progress.

As I mentioned in the episode:

“You feel like you’re doing a lot of practice, but you’re not making progress… because you’re not actually working on the things that are gonna move the needle for you.”

What you need instead is structure.

At Sax School, we use a simple four-part practice routine that ensures every session is focused and effective.

It includes:

• A warm-up
• Scales related to your piece
• Something new (to challenge you)
• Something fun (to build confidence and repertoire)

This approach is especially powerful for adult beginner saxophone lessons, where time is limited and progress needs to be efficient.

If you’d like help building your own routine, check out this guide:
👉 Four Step Practice Routine

Playing too fast (too soon)

This one is huge.

Most players try to play things at full speed straight away—even when they’ve never played them before.

And that’s where things start to fall apart.

As Joel explained in the podcast:

“You can do anything if you slow it down enough.”

When you rush:

• You make mistakes
• You reinforce bad habits
• You lose confidence

But when you slow things right down:

• You play accurately
• You build strong muscle memory
• You actually improve

Think of it this way: every time you play something, you’re training your brain.

So it makes sense to train it correctly.

If you struggle with tempo control, this article will help:
👉How to practice saxophone with a metronome

Not fixing mistakes properly

Here’s another trap…

You play through a piece, make a mistake, and just carry on.

Then you do it again.

And again.

Before you know it, that mistake becomes part of your playing.

Instead, you need to zoom in on the problem.

Break it down. Fix it. Repeat it correctly.

Fred described this brilliantly using the idea of reinforcing the right pathways:

“You’re not just practising—you’re training your brain”

And that’s where repetition comes in.

A simple rule of thumb?

Play a tricky passage correctly five times in a row before moving on.

That’s how you lock it in.

This process—often called “overlearning”— is what separates frustrating practice from real progress.

 

Bringing it all together

If your practice hasn’t been working, it’s not a lack of effort.

It’s usually one (or more) of these:

• No clear structure
• Playing too fast
• Reinforcing mistakes

Fix those, and everything changes.

You’ll start to feel progress again.

You’ll enjoy your playing more.

And most importantly—you’ll begin to play saxophone with confidence.

If you’d like help putting all of this into action with step-by-step guidance, structured lessons, and a clear plan…

 

About the Tutors

Nigel McGill setup Sax School Online to share his knowledge from decades performing and leading bands all over the world. Over the past 11 years his videos, courses and live education events have reached millions of players worldwide.