tritone progression as, within the song's tonic key (of E), the 3rd note heads towards the flat 7th. Musicologist Walter Everett likens this ascending arpeggiation of the diminished triad to a melodic feature in "Within You Without You" (over that song's recurring phrase "We were talking"). "The Inner Light" is an example of Harrison creating ambiguity about the tonic key, a technique that Pedler recognises as a characteristic of Harrison's spiritually oriented songwriting. Recording Bombay Having used London-based Indian musicians from the Asian Music Circle on "Love You To" and "Within You Without You", Harrison recorded "The Inner Light" in India with some of the country's foremost contemporary classical players. In early January 1968, he travelled to HMV Studios in Bombay to record part of the score for Wonderwall, much of which would appear on his debut solo album, Wonderwall Music. The day after completing the soundtrack recordings, on 13 January, Harrison taped additional pieces for possible later use, one of which was the instrumental track for "The Inner Light". Five takes of the song were recorded on a two-track recorder. The musicians at the sessions were recruited by Shambhu Das, who had assisted in Harrison's sitar tuition on his previous visit to Bombay, in 1966, and Vijay Dubey, the head of A&R for HMV Records in India. According to Lavezzoli and Beatles biographer Kenneth Womack, the line-up on the track was Aashish Khan (sarod), Mahapurush Misra (pakhavaj), Hanuman Jadev (shehnai), Hariprasad Chaurasia (bansuri) and Rijram Desad (harmonium). In Lavezzoli's view, although these instruments are more commonly associated with the Hindustani discipline, the performers play them in a South Indian style, which adds to the Carnatic identity of the song. He highlights the manner in which the sarod, traditionally a lead instrument in North India, is played by Khan: staccato-style in the upper register, creating a sound more typical of acoustic guitar. Similarly, the pakhavaj is performed in the style of a South Indian tavil barrel drum, and the sound of the double-reed shehnai is closer to that of its Southern equivalent, the nagaswaram. The recording includes tabla tarang over the quiet, vocal interludes. Author Simon Leng refutes the presence of the oboe-like shehnai, however, saying that this part was played on an esraj, a bow-played string instrument. Citing Khan's recollection that he only worked with Harrison in London, Leng also says that the sarod was added to the track