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my answer to the original question and the moment may well have passed is yes  the expected chords in the key of G are based on the scale notes 

however it is important to  note that ii, iii and vii chords are usually minor chords. 
so we have -

G Am Bm C D Em 

as to the Vii note, theres no chord which can be constructed on the vii note. some people use a dimished chord.  i tend to flatten the note by a semitone and play F. it works for me and is fairly common in rock   

by the way A#. I don't think so !  A whole tone up from A is B

I have come across this site. it plays random intervals and chords and encourages allows you to guess them. 

http://www.good-ear.com/

other things I am finding useful is harmonic theory. for those not familiar with the idea;  this is about taking the chords buildt on each  of the intervals of the scale and numbering them (usually with Roman Numerals). So C F G become  I IV V.  That  is in fact by far the the most common chord progression in the Key of C and its relatively easy  to memorise and recognise.

However  there are lots of other recognisable progressions. at the moment I'm just playing chord changes and listening to them.

ahhhhh....... muting. there's an art

the best way to leran about muting is to watch someone do it. perhaps others can post some links 

but there are two basic techniques - right hand muting and left hand muting

starting with right hand muting (if you are right handed) - hope I've got this right -  yep just checked my guitar

youre playing barre chords or single notes. so instead of pushing down hard on the fret just press down until you get a slightly dull noise and voila a muted sound

but that would get a bit boring so the trick is to press down and release slightly. sometimes depending on the music and certainly if you want funky  this might be happening every second. now that is going to be hard until you've put in lost of practice and strenghened the finger muscles good. hope it doesn't hurt too much !

now left hand muting. basically you just touch the strings near the bridge to stop them ringing

sometimes just gentle resting on the strings but don't be afarid to give them a pecussive thump if youre doing a reggae or ska number

turn the amp up to 10 (yours might go uo to 11  )

do a couple of pentatonic runs and finish with some feedback

might just get away with it

the writer of this song was John Newton. one of the things which John Newton felt strongly on his redemption was that people should show kindness to other including slaves and he was well able to talk about the subject having been a slaver. he wrote the lyrics at a time that slavery was being debated in England and it was abolished soon after. given its history the song was taken to heart by human rights activists and black gospel choirs.

the link with the police is rather different and I will speculate. The original tune to amazing grace has probably changed since it was written and there are various versions in existance. The most popular is based on the pentatonic scale and was possibly used by bagpipe players at or around the time it became associated with the song

it is also used by bugle players and has become part of the bugle repetoir. Bugles are associated with funerals. The military play "taps" but that is probably not fitting at a civilian funeral.  this may be one of the reason why the song which is not quite so military but evokes similar feelings is traditionally played at police funerals.

as I mentioned the tune is pentatonic which makes it ideal for arpeggios and for embellishment so its a nice tune for acoustic guitar

Here my ten  -

Linkin Park

Bloc Party

Dixie Chicks

The Killers

Razorlight

Blink 182

Queens of the Stone Age

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

The Gossip

Snow Patrol

actually....

the chord changes are often in the the same place in second and third verses

song writers have to have lyrics which fit the underlying structure and rythym of the music

so if you keep on playing the music at the same tempo as in the first verse you may find that it fits

but listen carefully to how the lyrics are phrased, some words will be invariably stretched and some clipped slightly

sorry upyerkilt just realised that you said the same

harmony central has a good community - if you need to know about fingering for jazz chords or the best way to use the dorian modes and you're on stage in 15 minutes its worth a look but

this is my favorite site by a mile.

er, what video

gimme linx

cheers

thanks guitar doc.

yes do what you want. but varying your strumming style can add interest to a piece and make it more obvious what you are trying to play

it sounds to me that rather than strumming randomly you already have three different and distinct strumming patterns.

I am interested that all your patterns have an odd number of strokes which suggests to me some varying in tempo within the pattern.

for example the second one is very popular for 3/3 time and waltz

1...2...3
V...V...n

but waltz time isn't very common in modern music so its more likely to be played like this -

1...2...3...4

V.......V...n

similarly the last pattern has five strokes but probably isn't counted as five equally space notes - it might be counted as follows

1...&...2...&..3...&...4...&...

V........V.......V.......V...n...

think about what you're doing - there are lots of other way to play the 3 patterns you suggested

and i suggest you try some simple alternate strumming - you might try eights -its a simple pattern which fits many modern songs and is good for rockier number

1...&...2...&...3...&...4...&...

V...n...V...n...V...n...V..n..
 
keep rocking...