Mark,

I was really being slightly droll--but with a real point underneath--

Something important to understand is that Bluegrass, Old Timey, blues, ragtime, and the wide variety of Celtic genres, or a Swedish Hambopolska. each have their own, distinct, underlying pulse--forget the chords for a minute, in order to play an effective and appropriate accompaniment, whether it is to fiddle, mandolin, clarinet, ocarina, or whatever, you have to be able play this--not to fake it, not to follow, but to really be able to lay it down so that it sounds like the kind of music that it is supposed to be, without the melody player--

When the old timers tell you to knock it off, it is generally because, even if you've got the tune, you don't have the right feel--and don't let the fact that the chords are simple confuse you into thinking that it is easy--