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