definitely sub whm. people will appreciate it and you will find yourself in many situations where you will be having to help heal the party, trust me. bard is a wonderful job to play, people will respect you more and you will gain a reputation very fast. spend the extra money on the +1 gear, learn your ranges for your instruments, sub whm, and learn early on to get the party to do what you want.

and as far as farming is concerned, if you can get up to lvl 40ish or higher, japanese players will pay you good money for skill up parties. i used to spend hours helping the JP players skillup their weapons and it's because of them that i was able to buy the best gear.