Island favorites · Chords + a teacher
Cool Down: the chords you need
Kolohe Kai
Cool Down is the slow-burn love song from Kolohe Kai's 2009 debut This Is the Life, the album that made Roman De Peralta's crew one of Hawaiʻi's biggest island reggae acts. Together with Ehu Girl it still ranks among the band's most streamed songs.
Level 2 · Medium · 2 chords · Ukulele or Guitar
The chords you need
This is the whole chord vocabulary for the song. Tap any chord with a diagram to see the fingering and hear it in our free chord library.
- BbLearn it at the shop
- CmLearn it at the shop
The feel
Slow-burn reggae sway; the record clocks near 140 but it feels half that, like the tide.
The record sits around 140 BPM
Start way under that. Speed comes on its own.
Why you’ll love it
Two chords carry almost the entire song, so your strumming hand can relax and let the groove do the work. Fair warning: both are barre shapes, and that is exactly the kind of hurdle a teacher clears fast.
Warm-up · works in any browser
Get ready for Cool Down
Bb and Cm are shapes we have not drawn diagrams for yet, because they are barre chords, and barre chords stick faster with a teacher watching your hand. The teachers at the shop will show you the shapes. Meanwhile, the trainer below loops the island feel on a friendly C so the rhythm is ready the day the shapes are.
Island strum trainer
This is the generic island skank, the down-up heartbeat under half the songs on Hawaiian radio, not this song’s arrangement. The loop changes chords once a measure in plain practice order, not the song’s changes. Rest on the count, strum on the and, and pop the accented up-strums short and bright like a chop.
Chord of the bar: C
This is the island strum. Loop it until it feels like breathing. Then put on the record, or grab a teacher at the shop, and you’re ready.
The honest part
Why we don’t print the whole song
This one is still under copyright, so we can’t publish the full arrangement online. What we can do is free and real: learn every chord above with our chord library, get in tune with the browser tuner, and warm up your changes with Play Your First Song Today.
Barre chords come way easier with a teacher watching your thumb. Ours do that seven days a week.
Sounds better on real strings
This song was born on an ukulele.
Come play a few at the shop on Kilauea Ave. New and used ukuleles on the wall, a crew that will help you find yours without any pressure, and teachers running lessons here 7 days a week who will take you through the whole song, start to finish.
Want more songs you can learn in full online right now? The free song wall has complete lessons, chords, strums and all.
1221 Kilauea Ave Ste 10, Hilo, HI 96720 · 808-969-9342