see
Pedantic Grognard
Like I voted, I'd go with #5 (the 0E Bard that became the 2E Bard), but if you made me use the 1E Bard, I'd go with #2.
The rules for bards look like the general "The Character With Two Classes", but are not. I particularly note that the explicit requirement that bards have a Dexterity of 15 is either a contradiction or a redundancy if we are using "The Character With Two Classes" rules, since then they would already have to have a Dexterity of 17. Between this, the half-elf mention, and the fact that no reference is made to "The Character With Two Classes", then, the bardic progression is best treated as its own independent thing, not a case of dual-classing.
The rules for bards look like the general "The Character With Two Classes", but are not. I particularly note that the explicit requirement that bards have a Dexterity of 15 is either a contradiction or a redundancy if we are using "The Character With Two Classes" rules, since then they would already have to have a Dexterity of 17. Between this, the half-elf mention, and the fact that no reference is made to "The Character With Two Classes", then, the bardic progression is best treated as its own independent thing, not a case of dual-classing.