Thanks Techone.
I've been going through the Bit Math tutorial and I'm starting to understand everything in your code but I noticed in your comments that you said I need transistors. I understand the fundamentals of how a transistor works but I don't understand why they are needed here; my only experience with them is when there's two power sources for signal and for operation. And to that regard, I'm a little lost where the leads should go in the circuit since there's only one power source to the breadboard, the arduino.
If you can help me understand this a little better I would be very grateful.
Mike