Born in Madrid, he studied with Miguel Garcia. In 1825, Aguado visited Paris, where he met and became friends with and for a while lived with Fernando Sor. Sor's duo "Les Deux Amis" ("The Two Friends") commemorated the friendship: one part is marked "Sor" and the other "Aguado."

Aguado's major work Escuela de Guitarra was a guitar tutor published in 1825. It is still reprinted today (Tecla editions). In the "Escuela" Aguado describes his use of fingernails on the right hand as well as his invention of a "tripodion": a device that held the guitar and thus minimized the damping effect of the player's body on the guitar's back and sides. Aguado's other works include "Trois Rondos...