Originally Posted by: froggy62... what do the numbers mean on the strings ...

As Hunter & Gordon have said, those numbers are scale degrees.

This topic is covered in depth in GF 2 Chapter 1 in the 3 lessons of the C major scale tutorial:

http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=363

Go through that tutorial a few times & see if that helps.

Remember the pentatonic scale question you asked? I replied with a tab-text that showed you the fretboard pattern, but more importantly, showed you the pattern to play using numbers. Those were also scale degrees. :)

The numbered scale degrees are the most important way of identifying any scale pattern, because they are the direct result of the scale interval formula that gives each scale its unique sound & pattern.

Make sense? Ask more if necessary!