Originally Posted by Neapolitan

What I considered noodling (with guitar playing) is doing technical things with no direction for an extended period of time. It's aimlessly going up and down the diatonic/pentatonic scales or bending strings over and over (till it makes you sick), stretching out solos etc -- doing those things but not making sense out it. IMO Noodling isn't how good or bad one plays on a technical level, it's about having no direction just meandering about the place like a long wiggly pasta noodle on a plate. Eric Clapton & Trey Anastasio noodles, Steve Hackett don't.