I've recently learnt the five pentatonic patterns in an attempt to begin playing lead.

I've been practising over various records to see what I could come up. My friend told me to begin and end each phrase in a solo with a target note although this doesn't always sound as if it works out over some of the chord changes I'm soloing over.

My question is, when I'm soloing over a chord sequence, do I need to know which notes are in every single chord I'm playing over in order to improvise without hitting any sour notes or is there a less painstaking way to accomplish this?

If the progression is simple, meaning no key changes or passing chords (think blues or basic rock progression) then your pentatonic scales really have no "avoid" notes. Some notes are better than others, but everything should work. In fact, if your rhythm and time are strong enough, you can even make a chromatic scale work just fine LOL. But that's another topic.

To your point about knowing the notes in every chord, the easy answer is yes, the more you know, the more you can do (or the less often you hit the clam notes).

However, there are more simple ways to get you sounding good while you're working on the long road above.

Post back with a chord progression you're playing over and I'll give you some ideas on what you can work on.

Okay, well I was just noodling around over the Purple Rain chords recently... do you have any ideas of what I could do to jazz it up?

Ok so over Bbsus / Gm11 / F / Eb sus (6th pos)

Some choices are

G minor pentatonic and G Aeolian (natural minor)
C minor pentatonic
D minor pentatonic
Bb Major

all of those can work over this progression.

Another thing you can do is to switch between major and minor tonalities over the sus chords. Sus chords do not have the third to tell the ear whether it is major or minor. So as a musician, you can solo with a major or minor vibe with your ear being the judge.

For example, over Bb sus, Bb major or G minor pentatonic work just fine. But when you try Bb minor over Bb sus, you get a grittier/bluesier sound. Just be sure to use it for just that measure because Bb minor over Gm11 will add the b5/#5 tones which are too tangy for my ears over a minor 11. LOL

The best way to work these ideas under your fingers is to isolate each chord and play over it until you get the sound in your ear. Then put the progression back together and work your tools (scales) to make something cool.