Stefos

I've been learning to play bass a year ago... I thought I'd be easy since I play guitar. However, I discovered that techniques differ considerably. Anyway, I've been practicing some songs such as "Autumn Leaves" and "Tune up" from the real book. I play with some other amateur musicians.

The questions is: How can I play the walking bass following the harmony and, at the same time, communicating with the soloist and the drums? I've tried using the arpegiated cords.

So for example if the bar is A-7  I'd play A C E G.

It sounds ok, but I've heard some other musicians and noticed they use a very different style. It's more Chromatic.... but how do they do it?

When there comes the time to improvise, let's say on a "twelve bar blues" in E, and let's take the following progression you play the E chord in the first four bars, then you go to A in the next 2 bars... as in the following:

I    II     III     IV     V   VI   VII    VIII     IX     X     XI      XII
E    E      E      E      A   A     E        E       B      A      E       E 


Can I keep playing the E scale througout all the bars?
Otherwise, What scale should I use?
How can I make the solo sound cool???