Learn How to Play the BEST Gipsy Kings Song of All Time

The Gipsy Kings basically own the entire genre of rumba flamenca. There are other artists who have capitalized on the guitar rumba style like Ottmar Liebert, Jesse Cook, Strunz and Farah and many others. (We can trace the history of this style back to Paco de Lucia's Entre dos Aguas.) But no artist in this genre has had the success and longevity that the Gipsy Kings have enjoyed, and more to the point: almost every single one of their recordings is a rumba rhythm!

I have been playing this song since I was a teenager, along with other songs by the Gipsy Kings. But I have always considered Moorea to be their best instrumental piece because it has not just a very cool chord progression (that changes keys!), but also a very memorable opening riff in addition to a beautiful melody. All of these elements combine to make a very fun to play guitar piece – especially because most of this song is tailor made for improvisation. 

Let's take a look at the chords, the first two are in the key of F# minor, whereas the remaining chords of this 16-bar progression are in the key of E minor: 

In this Spanish guitar rumba tutorial, I show you how to put these chords to use to play all the elements of this fantastic song: 

Let's look at the rumba pattern:

The above from the pattern is one of the most common patterns used by the Gipsy Kings. Four more step-by-step guidance on how to play Maria by the Gipsy Kings get my free 11-page guide here.