Thanks for the helpful posts, I tried the code and it worked straight away. I think my biggest hurdle is getting my head around the programming as i've had experience with electronics before and other programming languages such as supercollider and max/MSP but arduino programming is new to me.
Would like to ask more questions but I think i'll try and figure out some stuff before I ask so I don't waste your time! lol
really appreciate the support and I hope to post more soon.
regards