Ok, I just wanted to ask before assuming that's what you meant. Yeah, going root to root sounds like a amatuer-playing technique. The idea of playing something over a chord (progression) is to balance contrast with blending. The root is used to blend with the chord, which makes it a good starting point and ending point of a lead, and an occassional return to homebase. Other tones of the chord are used to blend also, like 3rd, 5ths, and 7ths but with more contrast (also good starting points). I like solo's that have a even balance of contrast and blending, by playing the melodic quality in unharmonic tones.

The b3 isn't a bad one to throw into a chromatic sequence. Bb, C, D, Eb, E, F, Gb, Ab, Bb. Nice ascending run.