Is a bong an instrument? It has been featured in many songs even having credits for bong solo.
from Camzing@lemmy.world to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world on 05 Sep 00:40
https://lemmy.world/post/19417913

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ptz@dubvee.org on 05 Sep 00:56 next collapse

My first instinct was to say yes, but then I remembered the bong sound isn’t really modulated in the song. So it’s more like a sound effect like police sirens.

Funny enough, I do consider a basketball a percussion instrument since it is bounced to a beat in some songs (I’m showing my 90s kid age here lol).

Banichan@dormi.zone on 05 Sep 01:00 next collapse

That depends. Is a sampler an instrument?

Camzing@lemmy.world on 05 Sep 01:59 next collapse

I really want to say no but I think it’s the wrong answer.

can@sh.itjust.works on 05 Sep 03:04 collapse

emphatically yes

NegativeLookBehind@lemmy.world on 05 Sep 01:19 next collapse

Is mayonnaise an instrument?

Camzing@lemmy.world on 05 Sep 01:29 next collapse

Is a tambourine?

SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 05 Sep 04:42 collapse

<img alt="" src="https://media.tenor.com/D7EU4Gc0DlIAAAAe/no-patrick.png">

PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee on 05 Sep 01:24 next collapse

Depends on the bong?

A bong can be a load of stuff.

That said, now waiting to see a hookah pipe solo

Kolanaki@yiffit.net on 05 Sep 02:02 next collapse

I only know of one song that for sure uses a bong “as an instrument” and that’s the bong rip you hear at the beginning of Sublime’s Smoke Two Joints.

But I mean, if they use the sound of hitting one to create music then it’s an instrument as far as I am concerned.

Camzing@lemmy.world on 05 Sep 02:08 collapse

Black Sabbath was the first.

mkwt@lemmy.world on 05 Sep 02:10 next collapse

“Watermelon Man” by Herbie Hancock has a beer bottle solo credited to Bill Summers.

Camzing@lemmy.world on 05 Sep 02:11 collapse

That’s definitely an instrument.

FuglyDuck@lemmy.world on 05 Sep 02:26 next collapse

alright. So.

I gotta ask…

how high are you (were you?)

also, just to actually answer the question, if it’s played as an instrument, it’s an instrument. Anvils have been instruments (See that thing in Andor. that’s an instrument.) Saws, too. Wine glasses. (both, by playing the rim, as well as breaking them as a sort of percussive instrument.). Even your desk when you’re bored out of your skull waiting for that one email to come in so you can do your job. (rapatap tap, smack rapatap tap, thunk.)

Camzing@lemmy.world on 05 Sep 02:34 collapse

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/00aec87f-eec5-4a77-82f0-ad0baeb845c7.jpeg">

can@sh.itjust.works on 05 Sep 03:03 collapse

Beautiful

Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world on 05 Sep 02:50 next collapse

Bong solo? Bongs are meant to be shared!

CaptainBlagbird@lemmy.world on 06 Sep 08:49 collapse

So is music.

Ergo: A Bong is a music instrument. Case closed.

datavoid@lemmy.ml on 05 Sep 05:06 next collapse

The bong player from Cypress Hill fuckin rips

palordrolap@fedia.io on 05 Sep 09:12 next collapse

Yes. It is an instrument used in the consumption of drugs.

Or do you mean musical instrument? TL;DR: It can be.

It comes down to how wide you want the definition of "musical instrument" to be. Is a drumstick a musical instrument? Is it what makes a drum designed to be played with sticks an instrument? What is such a drum without at least one stick?

"Well I could hit the drum with something else." Sure, but does that make the "something else" the instrument?

What is a woodwind (musical) instrument without the player's breath? A saxophone without a reed?

"I could smack it on something."

Well, yes, that's the crux of it.

In the loosest sense, anything that can be used to make a noise is a musical instrument. Take the popular joke of mayonnaise: if you put a straw in it and blow, I'm willing to bet some sort of noise can be had.

This then brings in the other argument: what counts as musical?

Chickenslippers@lemmy.world on 05 Sep 17:58 collapse

You bring up a great point. What is anything?

Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee on 06 Sep 17:58 collapse

Pain. Suffering. Cake?

HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club on 05 Sep 16:07 next collapse

Yes. It is a percussive instrument similar to cymbals.

pelley@lemmy.world on 06 Sep 10:56 next collapse

I’m something of a bong soloist myself.

nandeEbisu@lemmy.world on 06 Sep 20:19 next collapse

Lots of non traditional instruments get called for in concerts. I played a song that called for drumming on upturned metal trash cans in high school.

Case@lemmynsfw.com on 07 Sep 14:53 collapse

I was in band, and marching band was mandatory.

I did not try out, as I did not want to participate in that part of the band experience.

So I was part of the “front ensemble” which is shit you can’t march with. Timpani drums, etc.

We had an L frame rack with wheels that had all sorts of crap on it, half of it made in some garage before I joined.

We called it the ghetto rack.

I had a solo on what were essentially tanks that had the bottom cut off and an attachment point welded on top hung by rope.

So yeah, if you can hit it and make a sound, it becomes a percussion instrument.

corvett@lemmy.world on 08 Sep 00:03 collapse

Do you mean “bongo” out “gong” ?