Stef Burns was born in Oakland, California, and grew up in Walnut Creek, CA, where he attended Northgate High School. He started playing his Dad's guitar around age 6. At 7 he got his first electric guitar which was a Winston. He upgraded to a Fender Mustang soon after. He had his first band when he was 9 years of age called "The Yellow Brick Road". They played songs like "Wild Thing" and "Louie Louie" and weren't bad for a bunch of fourth graders.