Hi golfbuddy ...
The other way to play over any old tune including 12 bar blues is to not look at the fretboard in terms of scale patterns that tend to box you in, but as chord patterns that stretch the length of the fretboard. The mindset is to take it one chord at a time, seeing the array of notes shifting for each chord. That way, by using the ever-shifting arrays and using another 'in-between' notes to link up when you so desire, you wind up using all 12 notes, not just 5 or 6. Makes for much more interesting possibilities. Here's an example: