mysql in ubuntu 12.04 LTS allow remote access

To expose MySQL to anything other than localhost you will have to have the following line uncommented in /etc/mysql/my.cnf and assigned to your computers IP address and not loopback

#Replace xxx with your IP Address 
bind-address        = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

Or add a bind-address = 0.0.0.0 if you don't want to specify the IP

Then stop and restart MySQL with the new my.cnf entry. Once running go to the terminal and enter the following command.

lsof -i -P | grep :3306

That should come back something like this with your actual IP in the xxx's

mysqld  1046  mysql  10u  IPv4  5203  0t0  TCP  xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:3306 (LISTEN)

If the above statement returns correctly you will then be able to accept remote users. However for a remote user to connect with the correct priveleges you need to have that user created in both the localhost and '%'.
Before granting user access, you need to login MySQL. 
$ mysql -u root -p

CREATE USER 'myuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'mypass';
CREATE USER 'myuser'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'mypass';

Then

GRANT ALL ON *.* TO 'myuser'@'localhost';
GRANT ALL ON *.* TO 'myuser'@'%';

If you don't have the same user created as above, when you logon locally you may inherit base localhost privileges and have access issues. If you want to restrict the access myuser has then you would need to read up on the GRANT statement syntax HERE If you get through all this and still have issues post some additional error output and the my.cnf appropriate lines.