Hamid Motebassem was born in 1958 in Mashad, Iran. He was raised in a musical family, where his brother was a violinist and his first teacher was his father Ali Motebassem who played the Tār. His subsequent teachers included the masters Habibollah Salehi, Zeidollah Toluie, Houshang Zarif, Hossein Alizādeh and Mohammad Reza Lotfi. Motebassem studied at the Tehran School of Art and the Conservatory of Persian Music. He was a member of the Chāvosh Cultural Center where he taught music. One of the original members of Āref Ensemble, he founded Dastān Ensemble as well as Ensemble Chakāvak, Mezrāb & Pardis upon immigration to Germany in 1986.

He now lives in Holland.

Hamid Motebassem is the founder of the Society of Tār and Sehtār and has since 1994 organized annual seminars dedicated to the two instruments. He has performed on numerous albums of contemporary Iranian composers' works.