Will This mySql Code Work?

[[Ostrich]]

Baring in mind that I don't actually know mySql...

What I want to do:

Have an html form that passes a username and password to a PHP page.
The PHP page queries a mySql databse, first validatinf the username and then validating the password.

Am I on the right track with this:

<?

***code to take the $uname and $pword from HTML form***

$db = mysql_connect("localhost", "root");

if (! "$result = mysql_query("select * from my_table where username = $uname")
***error***
else
{
start $pword validation
}

That's probably all bollocks but you get the idea... I hope.

:)