Casper Smit, better known to be CSGuitar89, is a YouTube musician. He specializes on doing covers of video games into metal rock remixes.
Early life[]
Casper Smit was born in Almere, The Netherlands on June 3, 1989. At an early age, he and his family moved to the United States. The first instrument he played was a bass guitar, dating back to his school years in 2004. He became interested in playing the instrument when his class was doing a rehearsal. He would frequently visit his friend's house and learn how to play the guitar.
Casper received his first guitar as a Valentine's Day gift in 2004, a Squier Bullet Strat with an Marshall MG10 amplifier, both of which he still owns today. His first lessons with the guitar were learning some chords and easy melodies from pop songs. As his skills improved overtime, he would learn how to do riffs and solos from songs he listened to. Some of his skills were self-taught while some other techniques came from the source of his music teacher. He took various lessons for five years until his music teacher moved back to Brazil. Afterwards, Casper felt that he had all the experience to learn the rest on his own.
After months of learning how to play the guitar, Casper formed a band with some of his school mates. His band mostly did covers and later thought about doing some original material. His band performed during a few talent shows in school and also performed at a club one time. Casper's band only lasted two years as many other musical differences sparked tensions with the others, leading to the band's disbandment.
After his band disbanded, Casper continued to visit the same friend who also had a guitar to gather more advice. Casper eventually learned progressive metal, especially with Dream Theater being one of his influences. His other influences include, Scar Symmetry, Meshuggah, and Opeth.[1]
YouTube career[]
2009[]
Casper's first video came on July 9, 2009, the same day he joined the site. The first video was a cover of "He's a Pirate". His next video was his first film cover, the main James Bond 007 theme. For the remainder of 2009, he did various individual covers of various themes from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which included Gerudo Valley, Song of Storms, Lost Woods, and the Great Fairy's Fountain. Other covers in 2009 featured Mute City from F-Zero, the Song of Healing from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and Ballad of the Wind Fish from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. He also did a cover of "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley.
2010[]
Almost a year after joining, Casper began to receive recognition from viewers, who claimed that he would be the one to combine video game music and heavy metal into one. He began 2010 with various individual covers of theme from various Zelda games, including the Dark World from A Link to the Past, Kotake & Koume's theme from Ocarina of Time, Clock Town from Majora's Mask, and Midna's Lament from Twilight Princess. He also did two individual covers of themes from Mario Kart 64, which were Frappe Snowland and Rainbow Road. Other notable covers were the main theme from Luigi's Mansion, Route 1 from Pokemon Red & Blue, Together We Ride from Fire Emblem, and the Fever theme from Dr. Mario.
His first cover with another user collaborating was the Hyrule Field theme from Ocarina of Time featuring FamilyJules. Two covers from Super Mario Galaxy came next, which were Good Egg Galaxy and Gusty Garden Galaxy. He also did Delfino Plaza from Super Mario Sunshine and Dire Dire Docks from Super Mario 64.
2011-2012[]
His first cover for 2011 was the Pokemon Center theme from Pokemon Red & Blue. After that came Koopa Troopa Beach from Mario Kart 64. The next two covers were Jungle Japes from Super Smash Bros. Melee and Forest of Hope from Pikmin.
Over the next several months, Casper did a multitude of covers of themes from various Zelda games. After doing a total of 18 individual Zelda game covers, Casper shifted over to doing Ricco Harbor from Super Mario Sunshine. The next two covers were themes from Pokemon Red & Blue, which were Pallet Town and Lavender Town.
Later career[]
By the start of 2013, Casper was posting far less content than he normally would, which seemed to concern fans. His next cover was Fairy Flying featuring FamilyJules and Artificial Fear. His next collaboration cover was the credits theme from The Wind Waker featuring TheDelRe. His next sets of covers were Kakariko Village from Twilight Princess, the main theme from Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, and Midna's theme from Twilight Princess. His latest video was a 15-minute medley of credits themes from various games.
Equipment[]
- Electric guitars: Squier Bullet Strat, Gibson SG Special, Cort Z44, Schecter Blackjack ATX C-8[2]
- Acoustic guitars: Crafter TC035/N, Granada 70WF-CWE
- Basses: Ibanez SRX 305
- Drums: Programmed via GarageBand and EzDrummer