The similarities and differences between the cylindrical and E-shaped damping devices used in bridge engineering are discussed, considering technical factors such as the configuration pattern, mechanical model, hysteresis capacity, modes of failure, material quantity, and installation requirements. Considering the damping effect, a local fine finite-element model is established to analyze the dynamic response of a typical continuous girder bridge. The displacements of the key points and the shear forces of the key components are both evaluated after taking into account the different earthquake ground motion characteristics and incident angles. The differences between the damping effects of these two devices are quantitatively analyzed. Then, each factor that potentially causes this difference is discussed to realize bidirectional control of vibrations in the seismic design of the bridge structure.