Linear Phrasing: Why Longer Phrases Demand More from You

What happens when you double the phrase length?

In my recent video on Linear 5/3 Phrasing, I demonstrated exactly that. And based on the response it got on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, I thought it was worth going a little deeper.

In 1984, "Percussioner International" magazine featured an article by Gary Chaffee on linear time playing — nine years before he published his book Linear Time Playing – Funk & Fusion Grooves for the Modern Styles. That article was the direct inspiration for my "Linear Time Feels and Phrasing" approach, and the 5/3 phrase from that video came directly out of that work.

The 5/3 totals 8 notes and takes two full beats to resolve before repeating to complete one measure of sixteenth notes. That extra length doesn't just add notes — it doubles what you have to hold in your ear and control. Your ear has to stay engaged longer. You have to commit further into the phrase before it resolves. It's a different kind of demand than most players are used to.

Here's something to try at the drum set: start by accenting the beginning of each phrase and ghosting everything else — except for the notes you decide to bring out. Then ask yourself: which note, which sound is the focal point of that phrase? And don't play it the same way every time. A saxophonist doesn't play every note in a phrase at the same volume, and neither should we. The moment you start making those decisions, it stops being an exercise and starts being music.

That's where the real development begins — and there are six more steps ahead, including accents, stacking and combining phrases, altered stickings, and displacement.

I'll leave you with the same question I pose in the newsletter: what's different about the way this Chaffee Linear concept is presented here, compared to how others have approached it?