People are offering good suggestions. My 2 cents:

~ especially agree with the "getting used to it" recommendation; amplification is just inherently disorienting until you've interacted a bit with it; practice amplified; AND prepare to be disoriented and ready to adjust when you play your first outside gig, or a bar that's packed to the ceiling with people, etc.

~ some mics (e.g., dynamic cardiods - sp?) are designed to be "chewed on" while others may require a bit of space b/w you and mic

~ until I could afford a monitor, I stuck one of those foam rubber ear plugs in one ear and used my head - lots of empty space in there ;-) - as an internal speaker; you can buy a dozen ear plugs for a few bucks

~ if you're going to be working amplified a lot of the time, learn everything you can about the ins and outs of sound systems and equipment, room dynamics, etc.; I can now handle the >basics< of my cheap sound set-up, but it's taken me a year and a half of learning curve and audience abuse to be there; work with, but don't leave it to the geeks (no offense) - rather I hope you bring your musician's ear and sensibilities to the tech operations side of performing; IMO there's art and intuition to sound

~ if you play an instrument, on songs where it's challenging to pick up the first note of my part, I make sure that am picking that note within a guitar chord as (or just before) my vocal comes in; I'm usully oke if I start out on pitch for a harmony & can usually drop this once I get it down

- Merritt


"It's all one big note." - F. Zappa