Reddit mentions of The Evolving Bassist -- Millennium Edition: A Comprehensive Method in Developing a Total Musical Concept for the Aspiring Jazz Bass Player

These two books would be a good start.

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https://www.amazon.com/Ray-Browns-Bass-Method-Excercises/dp/0793594561

https://www.amazon.com/Evolving-Bassist-Millennium-Comprehensive-Developing/dp/0967601509/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+evolving+bassist&qid=1573349247&s=books&sr=1-1

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Also lots of jazz students have this book which would be good.

https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=mark+levine+jazz+piano&qid=1573349459&s=books&sr=1-2

I got this book when I was interested in pursuing jazz and it helped me learn a lot https://www.amazon.com/Evolving-Bassist-Rufus-Reid/dp/0967601509

That book is ok, but This one is the holy grail. It's written for upright bass players, but totally applicable for electric as well.

First off, you don't have to spend a fortune to get decent gear, we are in the golden age of cheap, decent gear. I would look at the Squire CV or VM line, both are really great instruments for the price. If fenders aren't your thing Ibanez also makes some really good entry level stuff.

As far as learning, nothing you have learned so far is a waste as long as you build on it. I would start out just getting used to playing the bass, both physically and then once the bass feels natural in your hands and you think about playing bass lines instead of guitar lines when you are playing, dive into jazz as a bass player.

The Evolving Bassist is one of the books that I see commonly reccomended to beginning jazz bassists.

Welcome. :)

The Evolving Bassist

Ray Brown's Bass Method

Building Walking Basslines

Constructing Walking Jazz Bass Lines - This book is part of a series that has 5 or 6 other books on different jazz bass techniques and methods.

The Evolving Bassist by Rufus Reid

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0967601509

I found Building Walking Bass Lines helpful when I first started. Another must-have is The Evolving Bassist by Rufus Reid.

Rufus Reid is a God.

The Evolving Bassist

I think this is the bible you are referring to, written by this guy.

Improviser's Bass Method

The Evolving Bassist

Practice is important, but the focus should be on learning good upright style position playing, especially in first and second position. And learning to really incorporate open strings in your playing, as that definitely helps you 'calibrate' unconsciously. Learning to walk changes like that will easily dial it in, esp. if you start working to tempo. Use iReal Pro and just practice random Real Book changes, or the standard jazz exercise sets available.

I have students switching to fretless pick up the Rufus Reid book [The Evolving Bassist] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0967601509/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_40YQCb7935GP8) to learn double bass position playing and walking/2 feel lines. (I use the [Chuck Rainey](The Complete Electric Bass Player, Book 1: The Method https://www.amazon.com/dp/0825624258/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_p3YQCbKQKWVWG) books for fretted players, which i heartily recommend in general, btw)

Mostly its a matter of getting a steady, repeatable hand position in the lower registers and letting the muscle memory develop.

Perfect intonation is a goal, but i never worry about it when i get moving in a line or solo. Developing a good vibrato and approach/slide covers a lot of minor mistakes. And on stage, no one will notice a few cents out of tune especially if you play expressively and use good vibrato and slide movement on approach notes.

Rufus Reid's book on bass is an excellent source for breaking down walking lines: https://www.amazon.com/Evolving-Bassist-Rufus-Reid/dp/0967601509.

I always tell students to find recordings of lines they connect with and enjoy and then transcribe those. You get a three-for-one lesson if you transcribe yourself from the album. You learn the actual line, train your ear to hear the intervals, and inadvertently pickup on the oh so important subtleties of the style.

Sorry for the long post -- I don't want to be discouraging, the best times I've ever had were playing or listening to jazz. The feeling is indescribable.

Most importantly:
Getting some lessons from a jazz bass player will help big time. If for nothing other than some direction, a teacher can be a huge help.

On "walking a bassline":
Boiled down, you will be tasked with outlining the chord movement and keeping time by playing (roughly) quarter notes with a slight emphasis on beats 2 and 4, as opposed to 1 and 3.

The rhythm is critically important. You might be the only timekeeper playing at certain points. This doesn't mean you have to always be playing quarters, but you do have to be focused and have solid time: other people will depend on you. You can make embellishments -- the more effective the less frequently they are used -- leave rests, play long notes, imply a different time signature, etc. My favourite part of playing jazz is walking chorus after chorus and jamming on different rhythms with the drummer.

Harmony is your other job. This has to do with note choice. Like your rhythm, this will become more sophisticated with time but start simple. In a small group you'd have more flexibility but big bands will necessitate a straightforward approach: in short, chord-tones are good, avoid-notes are bad. You might need to get comfortable playing in some weird keys but if the band is centred around a horn section, you'll be playing in Bb and Eb a lot. Learn some melodic minor harmony, the m.minor, augmented lydian, and altered chords are all very common sounds in jazz and you'll need to be comfortable navigating these.

Albums to listen to and their bassists:
Miles Davis - So What (Paul Chambers)
Oscar Peterson Trio - Night Train (Ray Brown)
Modern Jazz Quartet - anything at all, these guys are awesome (Percy Heath)
Bill Evans Trio - Waltz for Debbie, Portrait in Jazz (Scott LaFaro) - It feels weird mentioning these guys without also saying something about Sunday at the Village Vanguard, but this is about walking lines and LaFaro was on fucking fire for that recording.
Diana Krall - Live in Paris (John Clayton) - Lots of straight standards, exemplary accompaniment from John Clayton.
Keith Jarrett Trio - Up For It (Gary Peacock)
The Quintet - Jazz at Massey Hall (Charles Mingus) - Superband with Bird, Dizzy, Bud Powell, Max Roach, and ol' Crazy Mingus. Dig the beboppy goodness.
Thelonius Monk Quartet ft. John Coltrane - At Carnegie Hall (Ahmed Abul-Malik)
Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm section (Paul Chambers) Same rhythm section from Miles' "So What," cool recording with egalitarian distribution of solo time fairly ahead of its time, and entirely fueled by heroin.

The albums are all fairly straightforward with plenty of walking going on. You might even be able to find a few at the library and there are plenty of more examples online. Sorry for the lack of electric bassists -- these are all DB players -- but the prevailing variation in jazz is the double bass. Truthfully, a huge part of the sound that characterizes a "walking bass line" (and other ostinato bass lines frequently used in jazz) is the quick note decay of an upright bass. The note envelope is very smooth on an electric bass by comparison and as a result many electric jazz players elect to accompany in some other distinct manner.

Some materials:
Rufus Reid's "The Evolving Bassist," is aimed primarily at new upright jazz bass players. Some of the DB-specific information might be unnecessary but this is absolutely the best instructional material on jazz bass I've ever seen.

Mike Downes' "The Jazz Bass Line Book" is, like you might expect, about making great basslines. Downes is a monster and his book is bitchin'.

tl;dr - This is a big question, and there's no real easy way to answer this. Basically, it's asking "How do jazz bass." Getting started is deceptively simple but great musicians have made their entire careers off of beastly walking.

The Evolving Bassist by Rufus Reid.

http://www.amazon.com/Evolving-Bassist-Rufus-Reid/dp/0967601509

It started me off reading music 88-89ish, still relevant today. It's a classic.

Sorry I'm so late to the party.

https://www.amazon.ca/Modern-Walking-Bass-Technique-Richmond/dp/9995982447

This is a great book. It's based on 12 bar blues in several different keys and gradually introduces more concepts. It's a great place to start and will also help if you're new to sight reading.

https://www.amazon.com/Evolving-Bassist-Millennium-Comprehensive-Developing/dp/0967601509

This one too