In music there is one special note, the third, that tells you if a chord sounds happy or sad.
This band, Shiner, likes to leave that note out of the main guitar and let the singer or the bass sing it instead. That is the "withheld third."
But these songs have two, three, even four guitars at once. So this page counts how often each guitar and the singer actually plays that special note, to check the story is true and to see which guitar really leaves it out.
Green means the story holds. Amber means the book said "no third" too strongly, because another guitar was playing it.
The book's spine is one claim, the guitars leave the major third out and let the voice or the bass restore it. These songs run two to four guitar parts, so "the guitar" is never one thing. Every number below is the share of that part's notes that hit the song's major third, counted straight off the transcribed MIDIs with third_check.py. Where a Songsterr GP exists, its named Rhythm and Lead tracks are the fretted ground truth; the stem tracks also hear overtones, so a distorted power chord can report its own third as a partial.
thesis holds the rhythm voicing is genuinely third-less and the voice or bass supplies it.
scope it the third is real in a mid or lead guitar, so a blanket "no third anywhere" over-reaches and the claim must point to the rhythm voicing or the specific sus chords.
not a withheld-third song the thesis here is about something else, non-resolution, or a contested major-versus-minor third rather than a withheld one.
| Song · key · 3rd | Rhythm | Mid | Lead | Vocal | Bass | GP R / L | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asleep in the Trunk F · A | 1% | 5% | 6% | 9% | 14% | 0 / 0 | thesis holds rhythm F-C-E♭ third-less, voice reaches A |
| The Alligator G · B | 2% | - | 22% | 13% | 2% | 11 / 5 | scope it rhythm withholds, lead plays B, GP frets B 171× |
| The Mutiny B♭ · D | 7% | - | - | 15% | 1% | - | thesis holds late shared D, the text concedes it |
| So Far So D mixo · F♯ | 1% | - | - | 2% | 0% | - | thesis holds D mixolydian, third-less throughout |
| My Mirror Hates Me E · G♯ vs G | 6% | 12% | 14% | 9% | - | 12 / 18 | contested third the third floats between major G♯ and minor G |
| Endless Summer B♭ · D | 8% | 15% | 19% | 16% | - | 6 / 10 | thesis holds the sheet reserves third-less for the closing B♭5, mid, lead and voice carry D as the whole point |
| Lazarus C · E | 9%* | 13%* | 12%* | 5% | - | 3 / 0 | thesis holds GP frets almost no E, stem E is overtone bleed |
| Not Too Much B♭ · D | 5% | 7% | 7% | 10% | - | 5 / 1 | thesis holds guitars mostly third-less, GP confirms |
| Broken Satellites E♭ · G | 10% | 14% | 16% | 9% | - | 12 / 8 | thesis holds the sheet scopes no third to the sus chords, mid and lead play G in other sections |
| Jackie A♭ · C | 14% | 13% | 16% | 8% | - | 30 / - | not a withheld-third song GP rhythm frets C 30%, the thesis is non-resolution |
* stem-transcribed guitars hear the major third as a partial of the power-chord root; the GP columns are the fretted truth and are the arbiter where they disagree. Dashes mark a part that track set does not separate.
holds, 7 songs Asleep, The Mutiny, So Far So, Lazarus, Not Too Much, plus Endless Summer and Broken Satellites, keep their reading. Endless reserves third-less for its closing chord and Broken Satellites scopes it to the two sus chords, so both mark the exact place the third drops out.
scoped, 1 song only The Alligator carried a true blanket "no third for the entire song" that the lead guitar contradicts. That chapter and sheet now point to the rhythm voicing, so a reader who opens the tab does not catch the analysis lying.
reframed, 2 songs My Mirror is a contested third, major G♯ pulling against minor G rather than a withheld one. Jackie plays the third freely, its thesis is a vamp that never closes.
The rule this proves: before calling a third missing, say which of the two to four guitars omits it and which part, if any, supplies it. Every tab stays inside one hand's reach per part.