He studied with Johann Georg Pisendel in Dresden and Giuseppe Tartini in Padua. Appointed Konzertmeister in Merseburg in 1726, he taught the violin to J.S. Bach's son Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. He joined the court of the Prussian crown prince (the future Friedrich der Grosse) in 1732 and was made Konzertmeister of the Berlin Opera in 1740.

Elder brother of Carl Heinrich Graun.