The shear‐wave field generated in a linear viscoelastic medium confined between parallel plates (one fixed, the other oscillating sinusoidally in its own plane) has been evaluated and presented in a graphical form convenient for determination of the role of wave propagation effects in dynamic rheological measurements. The transition from closely spaced planes (“gap loading”) to the freely propagating plane wave (“surface loading”) limit is examined; the importance of deviations in magnitude and phase of the gradient profile from the gap loading limit is discussed in terms of high precision dynamic rheological experiments; significant deviations occur for shear wavelength to gap width ratios of 30 or less.