Beginner in need of some Guidance...

Well, I'm new around here, so hello and what's up to everyone...

Now on to me and my needs ;)

So I'm 18 and I just starting out with my 1st electric guitar(been playing for a week so far). Ultimately, my goal is to be a great guitarist(or as close as I can get) and play in a band, hopefully being able to dedicate my life to the art of music.

In my short week, I've managed to learn some chords(A,Am,C,D,Dm,E,Em, & G), a really basic understanding of Tab(maybe a little less than basic), and I can play the openning theme of James Bond decently. But now I've encountered a roadblock...I'm not quite sure where to go in terms of learning from this point. I've tried working on barre chords, but not really getting my fingers to do what they need to; maybe I'm a little slow, but still don't have a full grasp on how to read tab. I'm also having a little difficulty with chord progession and simply have my fingers do the walking, instead of pondering for a few seconds on where they should go.

Ok enough ranting...in terms of tabs, I need to know which note or chord needs to be played 1st...do I work from the low e string down or do I play the note or chord that seems the closest?

Here's an example of something that might confuse me:
d||-------------------------------------------||
D||------7---------7-----------0---------0----||
A||--------7---------7-----------0---------0--||
D||-------------------------------------------||
A||---7---------7------------9---------5------||
D||-7---------7------------9---------5--------||

Also, what would you recommend learning next if you were me? Force my fingers to do the barre chords? Dominant 7th chords, maybe?

Should I be focused on learning songs? Any suggestions for fairly simple ones that someone with my experience should be able to play? FYI, I'm a big fan of hard rock, classic prog, and fusion.

Last but certainly not least...power chords? I'm told you need to mute strings to play power chords...how so? And what's the deal with palm muting...how's it done?

Okay...I'm sure you're thinking "this kid is a pain in the ass with too many questions"...and you're probably right, but let's disregard that ;) Hopefully someone will be generous enough with their time and expertise to help me out, so much thanks in advance.

Peace

As far as tabs go you read it from left to right (so play the one that seems the closest as you put it.
Barre chords take a lot of practice to get your fingers used to them. I recommend just once for a few minutes every day going up and down the neck playing the basic F F# G G# A A#... barre chords. Eventually your fingers will build and stretch the muscles necessary to play barre chords.
Palm muting is used in more than just power chords. It is used in rhthm and just... a lot of things. How you do it is by placing your fingers over the string so that it mutes the strings.
Some fun songs for you to learn that would be fairly easy would be Wild Thing, Teen Spirit (Nirvana), Polly (Nirvana), and other stuff... Well I hoped I helped you a little bit. If not... atleast I tried. Also for more mellow songs I recommend learning to play song from Jewel's first album. It develops fingerpicking skills.

I would explain palm muting a little different. Palm muting is basically self explanitory. You use the palm of your picking hand to mute the strings. You can achieve different palm muting sounds by applying more or less pressure and being closer or farther away from the bridge. however, applying too much pressure or being too far away from the bridge can change the desired pitch.

One thing I noticed about the tab you posted was that is was in dadadd tuning instead of standard (eadgbe). So, if you were trying to play the tab you posted and it doesn't sound right, that's why. Like iiholly said, you play from left to right and the line at the bottom is the low E string going up to the high e string.

Personally, I would get comfortable with changing from chord to chord with "regular" chords before I jumped into bar chords, but that's just me.

Dont overload your self with too much material. I understand the need to go fast and thats good and great. The more time u spend the faster and better you will become. However i would rather be good at one or two things then be crappy at a bunch of stuff. ie. i d rather play 3 or 4 chords flawless in the change then play 6 chords psudeocrappy and a couple of tricks that arnt anything special. However there is a need to change up your practice so it doesnt get stale. I suggest practice 3 chords, 2 barre chords and pick one or two exercises on this site for melody and picking. Although it doesnt sound like, these progressions can take months of hard practice to become close sounding good, not perfect but good. From there focus on what style you like. Do you picutre your self a lead man or are u happy playing rythem? Some people on this site are die hard exercise maniacs...i myself just play tab from songs, then go on to the next one...either way i find them one in the same depending on the song/exercise you pick. Good luck, your gonna need it with those barre chords!