EQDiva

I box a bard and cleric when I am not raiding, with the bard being my main.  I cannot recommend this combination strongly enough!  Some posters above have commented on lack of dps with a cleric; this is only the case prior to the cleric obtaining the "vow of valor" series of spells.  Once that occurs, watch out.  With the bard's single pulling/slowing/haste/dps/tanking, the cleric can simply cast: Yaulp 8+ ($$ on procs), Promised Renewal on the bard, and Vow of Valor, and watch the 800 procs fly!

At the lower levels, this is still a strong combo; look to damage shield potions, bard damage shield songs and cleric reverse damage shields to expedite kills while leveling up in hot zones.

V.

So how did this end up for the original poster? 

I am making a return to EQ1 after a 4 year break and this time around my wife is with me.  I chose a Drakkin Bard and she a Drakkin ShadowKnight.  As of right now I am 33 and she 37.  So far this duo has worked out really well.  But I'm not sure what's going to happen in higherlevels.  Does anyone have any stategy or techniques they can offer? 

I have another friend who has never played and want's to start a warrior. I'm thinking this will only complicate things for the three of us, but am hoping that with our class combo's we will be able to easily pick up a healer along the way somewhere. 

 I would prefer if he went with a Shaman or Druid, even a Beastlord would work well.  I think once he play's and takes a look at the different classes he may change his mind.  Anyway just curious how this turned out for you.

My husband and i duo all the time. He is a pally, and we are able to get alot done. A bard is really a hinz 57 if used right. I am mostly spliting/pulling, slowing, snaring, hasting, over hasting, (increasing dps),  mana/ HP regen, mezzing when needed. Then my husband is doing the tanking, and healing of himself, and when needed on me. I really love it when we hunt in a undead camp, he slays and i dont have to snare. (to be honest a bard snare sucks, but it gets the job done)

To the OP, if you're looking to tank with the bard and have your friend running a shaman, Enraging Blow augs may be the better way to go for agro than CS4.  As I recall, bards have a built in agro reduction modifier on all spells and this includes the stun proc from Chaotic Strike.  EB isn't counted as a spell, according to the folks over at the Steel Warrior, so you get the full agro from the proc.  Not sure if this has changed with time, but when I first started hydraing Fenring with my shaman, I asked what would be the most agro and was told to get the agro axes from the DoN camps and put EB augs on them.

 As far as the question, is shm/bard a good team, I say hell yes.  If/when you get into raiding, shm/bard is the foundation of most melee dps groups so having one person running both makes the RL's life a bit easier.  Also, having one person running both the shm/bard makes the debuff team's life alot easier since you don't have to ask a solo bard for HoS/ACC when the mob's being stubborn and won't slow, you already know from the curses in the debuff channel.

Someone else mentioned root/rotting with Virulent Paralysis, and I have to agree, this is an excellent non-group hunting technique.  The shaman can unload on the DoTs and you'll probably get better dps this way than you would with the bard tanking since we're not exactly known for our dps and the shaman doesn't have to be careful on agro.  Tanking, you might get away with 3 DoTs on the shaman, with root/rotting, he can have 6 or more going, landing 8k/tick + the bard chants with proper AA and foci.

EB augs are more hate of course, but I am sure that CS procs do something for us.  Since using CS procs I definitely build more aggro than when I used other procs. 

Lanc:

Since using CS procs I definitely build more aggro than when I used other procs

Yes, it is more agro as not only is it a DD, it also has a stun component.
I've got two CS4 augs and I'm usually on the agro list immediately after the tank (and ranger/rogue if we have one)

Edit:
I Had two CS4 augs, I had to remove one when I started ganking agro regularly off tank classes.
Maxed Dex, haste, overhaste and Weapon Affinity had that procing a lot. I backed down to one aug and I still had enough agro to put me about second or third in line for groups and usually about number seven or so on raids. (Darn taunting classes...)

The point is, the chaotic stike augments work very well for agro building and since it's so easy to drop the agro with a timely fade... nothing to really worry about. 

I used 4 CS procs and with 90 CE... all that other good stuff and Jonthan's I never had a problem with pulling off of tanking classes.  It did keep me above casters or weaklings in groups and raids though which was nice.  When I got Lure of Ice + 3 CS procs it wasn't a problem either. 

 Strange, not sure what to say about it.
Agro ganking wasn't too big an issue at any one point to be honest. Standard pickup groups is where it turns ugly.
but yes, I agree, it does at the very least keep us in front of the clerics and silkies for agro.

 The only times I found I'd lose aggro to a tank, it was a tank with much lower gear than me so it was for the best, but I know that having CS procs doesn't mean you are raid geared, however it really wasn't a noticeable problem at all.

I am using SK + Bard as my duo selection.

Yes, no heal, no slow ( i dont use bard slow ).