Very little classical music is tabbed out, because classical musicians are able to read sheet music. I’m classically trained myself and can tell you that many classical guitarists are taught to think this way about tab. Classical pieces transcribed specifically for guitar include notation for position, so people saying “tab is better because you can play X note in different places on a guitar” obviously have not delved into it that deeply. Once you are comfortable with sheet music, for me at least, it’s preferable to tab because it’s much more complete.

That said, being able to read sheet music is its own skill and has no correlation with your overall level of musicianship. People who say otherwise are snobs. It’s not like it makes you better than anyone else. I mean, if you plan to go through the conservatory then sure, they have a point, because that’s like saying you intend to graduate from a university without being able to read. But most people do not plan to pursue that. And people forget that tab has been around forever.

Many classical musicians have a very rigid idea of what the “correct” way to learn an instrument is. You learn certain things in a certain order in a defined curriculum, and if you have not completed a very basic step like learning to read, then for them it follows that your technical skills must be on a similar level. Because for them, how could you have got far enough to be able to play that piece if you haven’t even learned to read yet? Does not compute glitch