10 Must Know Facts About Learn to Play Instructor Ukulenny

10 Facts you absolutely need to know about Ukulenny, as told by the Learn to Play instructor himself!

1. Lenny was born April 14, 1987 in Paradise Hills, San Diego, CA, and his parents named him Lendl San Jose after the tennis player Ivan Lendl.

2. He was terrible at tennis, but played as a setter for his High School volleyball team (those soft musician hands tho).

3. Lenny was part of the middle school drama club, which explains why he’s such a ham. And a nerd.

4. Lenny’s first instrument was piano but he quit that when it wasn’t cool anymore. He switched to guitar and played that from middle school on. Lenny didn’t start playing uke until after college in 2008.

5. Lenny played alto sax for four years in the Cal Band (UC Berkeley’s marching band), but the only song he knows from memory is “Careless Whisper.”

6. Before he was Ukulenny, he was Emo-Lenny. Lenny used to write sad songs on the guitar at the height of the pop-punk/emo era in the early 2000s. So feel free to request a Dashboard Confessional song at the next show.

7. He fell in love with the ukulele while playing on the BART train from Oakland to San Francisco. Lenny used to practice, teach strangers, and lead the entire car into song during his daily commute.

8. Lenny’s first Kala ukulele was a Black Gloss Tenor model with cutaway. He retired that model after it was signed by Jake Shimabukuro.

9. His favorite strings include D’addario Titanium, Jason Arimoto PhD Strings, and the brand new Ernie Ball ukulele strings.

10. Lenny’s fave Kala instrument is the Archtop model because it’s the perfect fit for the Jazz ensemble, one of his favorite genres. His favorite models that aren’t in existence include the Makala U-Manatee, the Kala Long Neck Soprano Travel with EQ, and the Double Neck U-Bass/Tenor Ukulele model.