I have some time right now and thought what the heck, I'll make some assumptions and put in the old 2-cents opinion...

I'll assume as a guitarist that you are not a beginner. You have the basic technique guitar tool-set of techniques... hammer-on, pull-off, slide, bend, vibrato, etc. You have command of the fretboard... can play the note you want how you want, when you want. Use an appropriate scale... all of that sort of stuff. Play all the right notes in the right order.

You want to know how to not sound like just running scales or skimming ideas off something else or mindlessly jamming to some backing track. You want to play something you don't characterize as noodling. There's no secret really. You need to learn phrasing.

OK. Quick lesson.

The solo is composed of phrases (that's why they call it "phrasing"). The phrase has four elements - pitch, rhythm (time, tempo), volume, timbre (tone quality). These are combined to form the phrase, the goal being to communicate a musical idea. Everyone knows this but just for fun I said it again.

The phrase has two elements - articulation and construction. Articulation is HOW, the technique... accents, slurs, effects, hammer-on, bend, etc. Construction is the WHAT, including its place within the piece and in relation to other phrases. Many guitarists concentrate on articulation (what guitar, what amp, what EQ settings, bends, slurs, what effects pedals). Why? Because it is fun. I won't address that. I'm assuming your articulation is fine and works for you.

Lets look at construction, which I think is what your question is really about. Some general information:

- Be aware of and use the rhythm. This is what drives the piece forward. This is the engine. Your guiding light.
- Be aware of the tonal center of the tune. Where does the melody start and end? Where is tension and resolution, where is climax? If it starts here, where does it go and how does it end? What are the dominant tones, pitches, of the piece?
- Phrasing is to rhythmically build and organize musical phrases individually then into a cogent whole, placing the entire phrase structure within the form of the tune, all along being aware of the tonal center and rhythm of the tune... the phrasing compliments the tune or extends the tune (inside vs outside soloing (if you don't know what that is, ask)).
- Phrases must lead into and out of each other as well as the whole ... they logically start and logically end (otherwise you lose the listener) in pieces and in total.

Some basic techniques for construction:

- Work in terms of 2 bars as the basic building block unit. Build the phrase 2 bars at a time or in 2 bar chunks (4 bars, 6 bars, etc). If you have a 12 bar blues, the complete phrase might consist of for example Phrase 1 (2 bars) which leads to Phrase 2 (2 bars) which leads to Phrase 3 (8 bars). Putting the three phrases together you get the full solo. Feel what's going on in each phrase, how it fits within the whole and how each phrase interacts... look before and after the phrase. Does it flow?
- Use long-short and short-long figures... not a steady stream of 8th notes or 16th notes
- Use a syncopation set-up ... an 8th rest before a quarter note followed by an 8th note
- Use grace notes
- Extend phrases by holding the last note over the bar line for a quarter or half note
- Use tension and release... going up in pitch usually evokes a tension, descending a release
- Use repetition and contrast
- Use larger pitch leaps for effect, but mostly use step-wise motion... one note leads to another
- Keep the melody of the song in mind, it can be a base

Well, that's swell, but how in the world can a learn to even construct a phrase of 2 bars much less 12? Easy... listen and practice.

We learn to do by listening to what others do and learning from that. But critical listening. Take any solo you like. Listen carefully to the construction (not articulation)... here's where the ability to transcribe music is handy. Transcribe it. If you can't transcribe, find the written music, if you can't find that or read that then find the TAB. In fact, even if you can transcribe it or read music, find the TAB... the what-string what-fret information is useful for guitarists analyzing something because that information gives guitar-specific information notation doesn't always show.

Look at what is being played in 2 bar chunks... how the player constructs each phrase and how each phrase leads to another, where the phrases go musically and how the phrases integrate into the whole. How the solo enters and how it exits. Looking at the tab you might see how the finger position base (5th fret, lets say) sets up the next phrase played at the 7th fret for example.

Practice constructing, phrasing, by humming or singing it. Sound good? If you can hum it you can play it.

So now when you want to construct a solo from some notes you are playing (noodling around with) you'll have some basic techniques to phrase those notes into something else. Your phrasing is just as valid as anyone else's. The more you do, the better at you'll get.

Good luck and always have fun.