George Harrison played sitar on "Norwegian Wood.

That’s correct. Sitar. It was the first time the Indian instrument appeared on a Western pop record.

Harrison had been introduced to the sitar by the Beatles’ friend David Crosby and later took lessons from Ravi Shankar. The track was recorded in October 1965 for the Rubber Soul album. It wasn’t just a novelty—it opened the door for Indian instrumentation in rock music.

You can hear it clearly during the instrumental break. That buzzing, twangy sound is unmistakably a sitar, and it changed how Western pop musicians thought about texture and tuning.

So yeah, sitar. The answer to your trivia question is sitar.