Noodling Versus Soloing

I like to solo with improvisation on guitar, but I hate noodling. I have never heard of anyone who prefers noodling, except someone might use it to sleep by. By saying noodling I mean soloing without soul or to a more logical mind soloing with patterns, but just pushing notes without prior knowledge of the outcome.

It is very important to know that some musicians could be capable of soloing, but never will be out of fear of noodling, and that is unfortunate. If that is the case, for guitarists I recommend practicing without an amplifier because your mistakes won’t sound so loud.

Every musician who attempts to take a musical solo started as a noodler and may continue to noodle while practicing because noodling represents a transitional period where one must make mistakes first in order to be able to sound right. This is a process all jazz musicians go through, and jazz still often has too many noodlers in my opinion. To really sing on an instrument is a lifetime undertaking and it also means listening to music until you can know what the changes are and you can hear a line through them that is your voice, and only your voice.

Also, noodling can happen if one dives too deep into theory, such that the overall sonic landscape is lost in favor of complexity. However, I think a lot of potential soloers never try improvisation because they are afraid that the sound will not be good.

Noodle on boys and girls because through practice noodling eventually you will be able to sing a solo on your instrument. One does not first learn to run with the best before they crawl.