Evidence suggests that he may have been born on 9 September 1713 in Edinburgh to John Brymer and Margaret Urie, and had a younger brother named James, but little else is known about his early life.
[1] In 1756, he printed his own The Rudiments of Music, commissioned by the Edinburgh town council as an instruction book for spreading the ideas of the "Monymusk Revival", which was revolutionizing psalm-singing in the Church of Scotland at the time.
[3][4] The third edition of his treatise was published in London in 1763, and was described in the influential Monthly Review of Ralph Griffiths as providing church-goers an easy way to "considerably improve their psalmody, by attending to the very plain and practical rules contained in this judicious tract".
His success allowed him to move to London in 1762, opening a shop in the Strand and leaving a manager named John Brysson to run his Edinburgh establishment.
Preston and Son purchased Bremner's London stock, plates, and copyrights, describing the transaction as "not only the most extensive, but also the most valuable list of works ever exhibited in this kingdom".