LOL, I had a lesson with Kai Eckhardt, he was like, "I tell my students if they listen to Phil Lesh that that's how NOT to play - he does everything wrong!" But that's Phil's charm - he's not really a bassist, he's a musician who happens to play bass. I've been working on my Phil interpretation this past year - have an opportunity to play with a Dead-style band - it's not easy! I also found that as un-rhythmic as he can seem, he is often (at least during the early/mid-70s) just right on the notes, plopping them in the perfect spots, but rarely the downbeat.
And the noodling is part of the aesthetic too - it totally goes against "professional" musical values, but there's something about the approach (hippie, slacker, etc.) that appeals to me.
I think it is legitimate though to question whether his philosophy about bass playing really manifests in practice. If so, I haven't been able to penetrate it yet.
And that's part of the magic of the Dead - how often are you going to have sounds like that at a concert in front of that many people? They got very formulaic by the '80s, but during the the early/mid-70s (can you tell that's my favorite era?) they manifested a whole bunch of different genres & approaches in concert.
OK, Dead-defense over! I'm gonna go listen to some STAX now.
