So you want be be a bard huh? Well let me tell you first off that you have made an excellent choice as far as a class that can do a little of everything. If your needed to tank, well then step up and take some hits. If your needed to buff and heal the party well then you can do that too. Bard's are one of the most unique classes in EverQuest and I hope after you read this you will understand why.
Now one problem with bards is that you don't start with a song. So you will have to go out and make enough money for your level 1 spell "Chant of Battle". Now this is an excellent AC and str buff that I used all the way until level 12. Now level's one to five are fairly straight forward as far as gaining experience is concerned, hunt the newbie creatures near your home city and buy those spellsongs! You might consider putting a point into percussion at level 4 just to get you started on it. Try to avoid putting too many points into 1-h slash (which I recommend as your primary weapon skill). You can max out your weapon skills fairly easily in the earlier levels so putting your points into them is kind of a waste. You will thank yourself later when you get skills like dual wield and you have 30 or 40 points to spend.
Now once you hit level 6 you will get your heal song. This song will get you out of many tough times however I don't recommend you using it during a battle as it isn't as effective if your not sitting down, I would just stick with your level one song chant of battle. Now with the level 2 song BE CAREFUL, this song is an area of effect song and will damage anything in its radius other than pc's. ALWAYS turn it off when going to town, I died one too many times to a guard cause I forgot to stop singing it.
From level's 5 to 10 I fought in mainly Misty Thicket and Blackburrow. Misty Thicket is the zone outside of Rivervale, and is great experience and money. If you chose to be a half-elf bard (WHICH I HIGHLY RECOMMEND, they have the best stats which will help you out in the long run) then you can start in either Kelethin, Freeport, or Qeynos. I would recommend Freeport as the newbie creatures aren't in the same zones as rabid wolves and grizzly bears as in Qeynos, and also its just a short run from Rivervale which you will spend alot of your newbie hood.
At level 8 you will get to use a lute which helps heal tremendously. If you chose to fight in Misty Thicket I suggest fighting goblin warriors until level 8 or 9, then you can group and take on giant scarabs and young kodiaks which also inhabit the area. Now once you hit level 9 you have to make a few decisions. You could stay and fight kodiaks and scarabs until level 11 which is much easier or you could travel to the North Desert of Ro and fight bandits until about level 14 or 15. Many of my bard friends went to North Ro however I did not. It is really up to you but I will explain why I stayed in a sec.
Now as you level from level one to 11 SAVE YOUR MONEY. What you need to do is save up enough money to buy a magical weapon, I saved up 40 platinum by level 11 (and trust me it wasn't easy) and bought a combine longsword which I still use today. Now I was paid back quickly when I journeyed all the way to Erudin to fight wisps. If you know your way to Qeynos then that is good but if not you will need a guide to take you. I PROMISE it will pay off
Now at level 11 as I said you should save up for a magic weapon and travel to Qeynos, once there you will need to board the ship which takes you to Erudin however you won't be going there. Your stop is the first island the boat passes, BE CAREFUL OF THE WATERS AS KILLER SHARKS SWIM AROUND THE ISLAND. On this island you will find wisps, you may want to hunt with a partner at level 11 but it won't be necessary at level 12 and up. The wisps drop lightstones which can be sold for alot of money, (if they have burned out lightstones just destroy them they are worth nothing) if they have regular lightstones keep them and if they have greater lightstones DEFINITELY keep them. Now once you get a good number of lightstones and probably ALOT of experience, you will need to board the ship which take you to Erudin and back to Qeynos (don't get off at Erudin because there is usually no one there who will buy your loot), stay on the boat until you get to Qeynos and sell your lightstones to PC's, the regular lightstones can be sold for 1 platinum and the greater lightstones can easily be sold for 6 platinum, DON'T SELL TO VENDORS. IT may be tempting to sell the lightstones to the vendors but you will make 3 platinum more per greater lightstone if you take the time to bring them back to Qeynos.
You can repeat this until level 14 and by them you should have made a very decent sum of money (I made close to 200pp) now at level 14 it is up to you where you want to go, I suggest the Oasis of Marr, but it is strictly your choice. If you don't want to travel all the way from Misty Thicket to the wisp island just remember how good the experience and loot is, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A MAGIC WEAPON AS WISPS ARE INVULNERABLE TO NON MAGIC WEAPONS.
THIS SKILL IS ESSENTIAL. Twisting is a way to sing more than one song and get the affects of 2 to 3 songs at the same time. To do this simply sing a song until the affect takes hold, stop singing it and start another, (since most buffing songs have about a 5 second delay before the affect goes away you can sing another song, stop it and resing the last song before it goes away) thereby singing two songs at once.
I hope this guide has helped you, and remember you don't have to follow this guide exactly, this is just my advice on the best experience and loot for your newly born bard.
Minite