I've had one guitar lesson in my life. The teacher knew that I just wanted to be sure that I wasn't doing anything harmful to myself, having been self-taught.

When I told him that I had trouble with the C chord he said, 'You're not supposed to play C on the guitar.' Now this was a man with tremendous skill. I decided he knows what he's talking about.

'You're not aupposed to play C on the guitar.' The guitar was not designed with that chord in mind. What relief that brought me!

He did point out a helpful thing - the index finger can swivel sideways and towards the thumb, so that it's possible to press a string with the side of the finger alongside of the fingernail.

My fingers are so skinny this isn't much help, but to someone with more flesh on the fingers, this could be helpful.

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Here's another approach. Play an Am chord. Now lift your ring finger. You have a C chord on the highest four strings of the guitar. Often, this is all you need to get by.

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I play early music and Celtic music with a group of friends. When I come across a good tune in C, I enter (or download) it into Noteworthy Composer and change the key. It's better for the guitar and the flutes, makes no difference to the harps, and is okay for recorders.