The best option would be to get some lessons, either from a teacher or somebody else you might know who can give you a few pointers. There are some great online options as well if you can't afford lessons or don't really know any players to help you out, like
http://www.justinguitar.com/. (Edit: I see Justinguitar has already been mentioned by Singe and DaFiz - it is that great a resource ? )
In the end though it comes to down to practicing and playing as much as possible. Not only will your muscle memory increase, you'll start to notice patterns in the way songs and their parts are constructed and your playing will improve dramatically. Practicing and playing can however feel like a chore if you don't enjoy doing it, so try and keep the frustration at bay and have as much fun as possible. What worked for me was to get some tabs with chords of songs I knew and that weren't too difficult and banging away at them until I could play them, and then trying some more. (Pm me your email if you would like some ballady, soft rockish type stuff to try) Eventually I found myself playing by ear and doing stuff I thought would take me a lifetime to figure out. That was about a decade ago and I still learn new stuff today mind you :-[ It is also quite humbling to hear some other players on the forum and realizing just how much there still is that I have no clue how to do and nowhere near the skills to pull off - but that's fine with me. Ultimately playing is meant to be fun and not a competition, and I really do enjoy every moment of it.
So that will be my advice - Get some pointers in the right direction, put in the hours, forget about others and focus on yourself, and then enjoy the journey as much as possible. In no time you will be nailing your current goals and new ones will present themselves. Enjoy!
