I have a bunch of instructional and music books for the four string but I was looking for something to help me with sightreading on the five (with a low B).

Any suggestions? There doesn't seem to be much out there.

I have Simandl, Chuck Rainey, Carol Kaye and Trumpf instructional stuff as well as Mozart Symphony and Piano Sonata scores btw.

Thanks

Why not transpose stuff you already have down a fourth? Or, you could use across the strings fingerings to use the fifth string in upper positions.

Why not transpose stuff you already have down a fourth? Or, you could use across the strings fingerings to use the fifth string in upper positions.

Both excellent questions.

For the first, if you mean transpose by hand then my answer is I don't have time for it at the moment and would rather pay someone to create an instructional book. If you mean transpose in my head that's an interesting suggestion. I can read bass and treble cleff and have a hard enough time keeping those two straight. I feel transposing in my head while sightreading will just confuse me more.

Using the upper position on the fifth string is something I'm doing now, and is very helpful. It is also a different sound which is nice to have in my bad of tricks.

Thanks

Check out the Sightreader Master software. It is configurable for 4, 5 and 6 string basses.

http://www.prolevelguitar.com/

IMO, if you're worried about the 5 extra notes you're getting with your B string then learning to sight read that isn't a big deal. It's just 5 more notes. More importantly, shift your hand up a perfect fourth and do all of your old sight reading exercises in a new position. Having a 5 string bass doesn't just mean that you have 5 new low notes to play, it means you now have more flexibility.