Help – MS Excel & Access before MS SQL Server?

I work on MS excel quite a lot but only at the very basic level. Now I am planning to get a bit more into IT towards data analysis side and according to couple of people i have spoken to SQL server is a good option. I am planning on polishing my Excel skills to intermediate/higher levels and get on with MS Access before jumping into SQL Server.

Any ideas if I am thinking and starting in the right direction or excel/access wouldn’t make much difference?

I don’t have IT background.