Pandit Gopal Krishna was an exponent of Vichitra Veena, a stringed instrument.
He was given initial music lessons by his father, Pandit Nand Kishore, who was himself a noted Surbahar player and vocalist. After his father's death, he continued his training in music under the guidance of Pandit Khubchand Bramchari of the Gwalior school of music. Later, when he was already an accomplished artist at All India Radio, he came in contact with famous sitar maestro, Pandit Ravi Shankar and learnt the finer aspects of music. He was a versatile musician. His musical expertise was not restricted to the Vichitra Veena only. He was also a good vocalist. He played several other musical instruments such as Tabla, guitar and a folk instrument called Iktara. He was adept at playing ragas in pure forms. He was good at dhrupad style aalap, jod and jhala. His composition were unique as for the Dhamar as well as the other rhythmic patterns.His jhaala playing was a myriad of various patterns of rhythm and mix of strokes of mijraab. This often led to the crescendo which produced a trance like climax before concluding his recital. He created many new ragas, few prominent ones are- Shiv Onkar and Tilak Malhar. He composed many orchestra compositions for akashwani, including taarnritya. He was given Sangeet Natak Academy Award by the Honourable President of India, Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma in 1994. He was a very strict guru. His disciples are well known artists.His son, Pandit Shree Krishan Sharma is an accomplished vichitraveena and guitar artist on akashwani delhi. His disciple Pandit Nishindra Kinjalk is a noted Surbahar and sitar exponent at Akashwani, Delhi. His disciples, Shri Murali Krishna and Smt Anubha Banerjee are accomplished Sitar artists on Akaashwani. Vinay Jain, Ronald Simpson and Umesh Chandra are other prominent disciples.