How to work out what Key to play a solo

Hello

I have just started to play guitar. And am working on the Minor Pentatonic scales at the moment and have a question about it.
I have currently learnt all the positions on the fret board and now I want to try a bit of soloing to work on my finger work.

The question is when playing the Minor Pentatonic Scale or any other scale for that matter, how do you know what scale to play for what key?

For example if a song is in the key of A Major what scale to use. Or if the song is in the Key of C # what scale to use. Could you still use the minor pentatonic for these keys or do you need to use something else.

Is there a pattern you follow to know what types of scales fit over certain keys?

Thanks

Hey and welcome to GT.

Originally Posted by: EnvyYou
The question is when playing the Minor Pentatonic Scale or any other scale for that matter, how do you know what scale to play for what key?

The short answer is that if you are in the key of C-sharp major, that means the notes, and chords in the songs are from the C-sharp major scale. Therefore you use the C-sharp major scale notes to play solo licks.

The pattern you are after is explained in depth in these tutorials.

Introduction To Improvisation For Beginners
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=876

Introduction To Improvisation In A Major Key
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=483

Introduction To Improvisation In A Minor Key
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=491

Major Notes In Minor Pentatonic Series 1
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=217

Major Notes In Minor Pentatonic Series 2
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=232

Major Notes In Minor Pentatonic Series 3
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=826

Major Notes In Minor Pentatonic Series 4
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=244

Best of success with it! Ask more if necessary. Let me know how it goes. Have fun!