Born in Kirklareli in 1966, Göksel Baktagir began his music education at the age of eight under the supervision of his father Muzaffer Baktagir. He graduated in 1988 from ITU State School of Art for Turkish Music where he was registered in 1983. A year later, he started his graduate study at the same school.

In the same year he was appointed as the kanun (zither) player to the State Turkish Music Group of Istanbul which was under direction of Tanburi Necdet Yasar. During this period, he gave concerts in England, France, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Switzerland and Türkmenistan with the Necdet Yasar Ensemble and with various other groups.

Göksel Baktagir began to compose during his studentship in the conservatory and has done 140 compositions, 35 vocal and 105 instrumental works. Most of his works are included in TRT repertoire. His zavil ("a style in Turkish music") instrumental work, "Sazim" (My Instrument), was awarded by a contest organized by TRT in 1990. His muhayyerkürdi song "Tek Kelime" ("A Single Word"), was among the 10 most popular songs of 1997 in a contest organized by the newspaper Milliyet. In 2000, his album "Dogu Rüzgar?" ("The Wind of East"), was awarded by the Turkish Authors' Association (Türkiye Yazarlar Birligi).

Baktagir has been working on the "left hand" technique that is unique to him since 1984 along with other techniques in the performance of the zither. Recognized as one of the leading artists of our time in traditional performance of the zither, he evaluated all opportunities and limits of the instrument, which is originally a Turkish music instrument and broadened the perspective towards other world musics. In this context he succeeded in creating superb works in some genres such as New Age and Jazz and gave concerts with various western Jazz Groups. He performed with Susan Kalifastau in the Akbank Jazz Festival 1994 and with Lawrence "Butch" Morris in the Akbank Jazz Festival 1995. The 1995 concert was released as an album in 1996.

Upon the invitation of Burhan Öcal in 1997, Baktagir performed in a concert in France with several other musicians; Arif Erdebil (nay), Yurdal Tokcan (oud) and Selim Güler (kemence). This concert was also released as an album "Orient Secret" in 1998. He is a member of the group 'Mercan Dede' since 2000, and since 1998 he has been giving concerts with the group "Istanbul Sazendeleri" around Turkey, expecially in academic institutions.

Göksel Baktagir has some recorded works such as "Okyanustaki Sesler" which includes his twenty instrumental works he composed in the framework of the classical norms: "Kervansaray-3", "Günlük", "Dogu Rüzgari", "Okyanustaki Sesler-2 (Cananim)", "Okyanustaki Sesler-3 (Hüzün)", "Sezgiyle seslenisler", "Café Istanbul", "Hayal gibi2(hat?ra defteri)”,”Dogu rüzgar?2(SILA)”,”Gurbet türküsü”,”Furtuna”and “Hayal gibi3 (Ask masal?)”. Baktagir composed for the soundtrack of the documentary about Istiklal Marsi (The National Anthem) produced by CNN Türk. The instrumental work 'Azeri’ which is used in the film of "The passion of the christ" is arranged and performed by Goksel Baktagir and Yurdal Tokcan.

He is working on a "zither metod" to be published and his book "Okyanustaki Sesler", which will include the scores of his works that are in his albums, is about to be published.

Along with his primal appointment in the State Turkish Music Group of Istanbul, he also performs in the Istanbul Fasil Group and the Istanbul Tasavvuf (Sufi) Music Group. He participated in the "International Rabat Festival" in Morocco and the "Bas Carsi Festival" in Sarajevo in which he did 7 CD and cassette recordings.

In recent years Göksel Baktagir has been giving lectures in the Mimar Sinan University State School of Art and the Halic University.