[Samoht]

Personally, I wouldn't play either. Rangers are gimp and Bard song twisting can be hazardous to your health.

The classes themselves are not comparable. One is a melee DPS class and the other is a melee support class.

Ranger damage is comparable to a Rogue without backstab and level 9 Druid spells. Their only good feature is the ability to track.

Bards are like a hybrid Enchanter-Rogue-Ranger class that wears plate armor. They are truly a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none class. They can track short distances, pull with speed and lull, CC, charm, add an insignificant amount of melee DPS (sometimes with just an empty hand), sing mana songs when they're in the healer/caster group, sing resist and haste song when they're in the melee/tank group, open some locked doors. Although it's probably not advised to try to do it all at the same time. They also have the easiest path leveling to 60. Bards will find groups much easier than Rangers, too.

Overall, Bard is actually a diverse class that's fun to play. Twisting songs is not.

If you're trying to decide on a new main, I like self-sufficiency as a factor in deciding what class to play. Bard definitely fulfills that better than Ranger. But Enchanter, Shaman, Druid, Necro, Cleric, Mage, or Wizard would each be a better fit with me than having to twist songs.