Jeri, I suppose it's each to thier own on watching a guitarists hands. Personally I only find it helpful if I know the chord shapes and tuning although I might pick something else up like "that was a G with an added...".

A problem I find with the best "Irish" accompaniests I know is they are making slight variations to the chords all the while and my favourite of all is up and down the neck all the while (usualy in EADGDE - I don't think he ever uses DADGAD).