The Ukulele's Jumping Flea Story

The ukulele word roughly translates to jumping flea in Hawaiian.

The ukulele belongs to the lute family of instruments.

Standard ukuleles generally have 4 nylon strings tuned to GCEA.

Ukuleles commonly come in 4 sizes including soprano and baritone.

King Kalākaua incorporated the ukulele into performances at royal gatherings. Royal approval.

The soprano size was the original standard ukulele in Hawaii.

Traditional ukuleles use koa, an acacia wood endemic to Hawaii.

One tuning uses the notes of the My dog has fleas jingle.

At its peak, 50,000 schoolchildren and adults learned through the Doane program.

Yukihiko Haida introduced the ukulele to Japan in 1929.

George Harrison loved the instrument and gave ukuleles to his friends.

Plastics manufacturer Mario Maccaferri turned out about 9 million inexpensive ukuleles.

Jake Shimabukuro's viral video reached over 17 million views on YouTube.