cant connect to local Mysql

[thehigherentity]

for starters i have only been playing around with mysql for a few days so i know very little about it

I am trying to move a guest book to another server, however I cant connect to mysql and create the needed database

the code we are using is
[code]
$host = 'localhost';
$user = 'username';
$pass = 'password';
$dbname = 'gbook';
$query = "CREATE DATABASE $dbname";
mysql_connect($host, $user, $pass) or die(mysql_error());
mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());
[/code]
all we get is the following error!
Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

im geussing its the 'localhost' thats the problem, but the server we're trying to move to, is a shared host and gives you access to nothing. I have been told you can access mysql by changing localhost to the correct path but all the information we know is The MySQL installation directory ' /usr/local/mysql' and have no idea how to work out what the correct path is [img src=\"style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/unsure.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\":unsure:\" border=\"0\" alt=\"unsure.gif\" /]

could anyone help me out here? I have been looking round the net and there are loads of sites explaining how to sort this at the prompt, however we dont have access to one!

[hackerkts]

I just went to yahoo search and found this:
[a href=\"http://www.codecomments.com/PHP_SQL/message323526.html\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.codecomments.com/PHP_SQL/message323526.html[/a]
Hope this helps.

[thehigherentity]

I have already read that site and a number of others, however I still cant find a solution, I guess I just wont bother and change it to a flat file system its easier.