But then there is this: https://fb.watch/dQwQEeCHDv/?fs=e&s=cl

This is a super tricky question. Because it's very personal from player to player. With that said, most of the time it's about sound production. Can you push the instrument and not have it fight back (where the sound breaks). This will increase your dynamic range, and thus you musical potential. Anything after that is personal preference. The sound quality (darker or brighter instrument), how it feels (shape and build of the body or neck, action, etc...). To me these are less about the quality of the instrument and more about what your personal tastes are. And obviously it's hard to make decisions when you don't have instruments to play easily.

As music becomes more complex with multiple voices (even implied voices) muddy up the water of what finger to use. I think a good perspective is that the not just a bass voice, but rather an accompaniment. Especially with that moving 8th note line. In this case, using the thumb on the G note and some kind of finger combination with IM, or MA, etc... to grab the D note makes sense. I think this smooths out the rhythm and allows it to work a bit better without being too heavy. It also depends on the speed you are playing at. Additionally, since the D note is on an up beat (and the last up beat of the measure) rhythmically it's going to be fairly weak. So using a finger rather than the thumb helps with the natural metric accents in the time signature. So a win win!

Eero - Welcome! It's great to see you here. Sight reading at the higher positions can be challenging. In fact something on my short-list to work on over the summer is talking my sight reading workshops from Twitch that I've highlighted and making it into some YouTube content and expanding into an eBook for y'all! Enjoy the forum, and I look forward to seeing your posts!

Welcome Gavrilo! It's great to have you here, and I know we are all looking forward to seeing your posts here on the forum. I must admit, "Professor Shreda" has a nice ring to it! 🤣 I think I need to start wearing tweed blazers with elbow patches on them... 🤔

@Justin it's great to see you posting here! When you have a moment, please feel free to introduce yourself. I'm sure all the members on the site would enjoy knowing more about you and your guitar playing journey so far! Also, if you need help for the introductory post, feel free to refer to this guide.

This is a great idea. Later in the day I’ll try and at least do some screen grabs of my set up with recording.

Welcome Matt! We look forward to your posts. Please let me know if there are any questions that you may have, otherwise, enjoy the forum!