You don't use the correct syntax. I assume you mean: // NeoPixel Display if ((counter >=3) && (counter <=9)) { strip.setPixelColor(0, 255, 0, 0); //set pixel number 1 and set color to red strip.show(); //send color to pixel 1 on NeoPixel Ring } else { strip.setPixelColor(0, 0, 0, 0) strip.show(); } And similar for the other colors. First you see there are a lot of occurences of calls to setPixelColor and show. We make a function of this, where the color and the red value is parameterized: void setPixel(int pixelNumber, int red) { strip.setPixelColor(pixelNumber, red, 0, 0); } Now we can write your code as // NeoPixel Display if ((counter >=3) && (counter <=9)) { setPixel(0, 255); } else { setPixel(0, 0); } void setPixel(int pixelNumber, int red) { strip.setPixelColor(pixelNumber, red, 0, 0); strip.show(); } And similar for the other colors. Now we get rid of the if statements. For the first color this will become: // NeoPixel Display setPixel(0, ((counter >= 3) && (counter <= 9)) ? 255 : 0); Combined with the other colors we get // NeoPixel Display setPixel(0, ((counter >= 3) && (counter <= 9)) ? 255 : 0); setPixel(1, ((counter >= 10) && (counter <= 15)) ? 255 : 0); setPixel(2, ((counter >= 16) && (counter <= 21)) ? 255 : 0); void setPixel(int pixelNumber, int red) { strip.setPixelColor(pixelNumber, red, 0, 0); strip.show(); } However, the conditions can be simplified by adding them into the function. So we get // NeoPixel Display setPixel(0, counter, 3, 9); setPixel(1, counter, 10, 15); setPixel(2, counter, 16, 21); void setPixel(int pixelNumber, int counter, int lowValue, int highValue) { strip.setPixelColor(pixelNumber, ((counter >= lowValue) && (counter <= highValue)) ? 255 : 0, 0, 0); strip.show(); } If you need to have more checks if a value is in range you can make it a specific function. This will increase the code, but makes it easier to reuse code. So you will get: // NeoPixel Display setPixel(0, counter, 3, 9); setPixel(1, counter, 10, 15); setPixel(2, counter, 16, 21); void setPixel(int pixelNumber, int counter, int lowValue, int highValue) { strip.setPixelColor(pixelNumber, inRange(counter, lowValue, highValue) ? 255 : 0, 0, 0); strip.show(); } int inRange(int counter, int lowValue, int highValue) { return ((counter >= lowValue) && (counter <= highValue)); }