Don’t expect predictable career moves from Eric Miranda — if either of the two guitar players in his first band had been able to figure out how to play Queen’s “Now I’m Here,” he might still be playing drums.

But since "Now I'm Here" had his bandmates stumped, Miranda decided to go home and figure it out himself. When he sat down, all he knew about the guitar was that it was in tune — his father, who played a little bit, tuned it for him. Two days later, he had the song figured out. The guys in the band said it couldn't possibly be right, because he didn't play guitar, but Miranda did have it right. "And to this day, I can play that riff," he laughs, "and to this day, it's right."

Miranda was still a drummer when he hooked up with Plug Bunnies, Inc., but a few lineup changes later, he was up front playing guitar full time. He went on to play more than 300 shows with the band, opening for major '80s acts like the Psychedelic Furs and Modern English, by the time he was 20.

With guitar chops sharpened from those live gigs under his belt and a desire to master the instrument in his gut, Miranda started playing everywhere around New York, with practically everybody, accumulating what he calls a "weird, spotty history" of gigs with an eclectic array of bands and guitar players. He's sung and played guitar with Rick Derringer and Rainbow's Joe Lynn Turner, played bluegrass with Boo Reiners in the Demolition String Band, written and performed with Jesse Malin and Francis Dunnery, and been on stage with the Counting Crows and Ryan Adams, who called the Plums, Miranda's last act, his favorite band. He's played punk, power pop, rock and bluegrass, drums, bass and guitar, and he does the singer/songwriter thing too. In short, he's everywhere, doing everything — but so far, only the rock cognoscenti know his name.

That may soon change, thanks to Miranda's latest venture, Ming Dynasty. The experiment began when Ming Chan asked Miranda to teach her to play bass, because she wanted to start a band. Once they started working together, Miranda realized he had a talent on his hands, and that maybe they already had their band right there. "I just said, 'Fuck it, let's do this band,'" Miranda says. The pair started writing songs that are a mix of punk, power pop, glam rock, and acoustic strummers, and with demo in hand, they asked renowned New York City artist and designer Joshua Davis if he could build them a website. Davis laughed, and said they couldn't afford him. "But let me hear your stuff," Davis said. He loved it, and not only built their site, but has designed original posters for their shows and become something of a patron saint.

Part of the reason Davis loved Ming Dynasty's demos is that despite Miranda’s meanderings, when it comes to recording, "I’m always hyper about my own stuff," he says. "To me, guitar leads have to be composed. That takes time and energy." This perfectionism has caused Miranda to turn down numerous requests from other artists to play on their records, but the payoff is in his own recordings.

"My friends always tell me that I'll make it big when I get out of all my romantic obsessions — that I chase women more than stardom," Miranda says. But with Ming Dynasty, the "first thing I've really committed to in a long time," he just may have found a love that can last.