Axially corrugated cylindrical waveguides with wall radius described by R-0 (1 + epsilon cos 2piz/L), where R-0 is the average radius of the periodically rippled wall with period L and amplitude epsilon, have been largely used as slow-wave structures in high-power microwave generators operating in axisymmetric transverse magnetic (TM) modes. On the basis of a wave formulation whereby the TM eigenmodes are represented by a Fourier-Bessel expansion of space harmonies, this paper investigates the electrodynamic properties of such structures by deriving a dispersion equation through which the relationship between eigenfrequencies and corrugation geometry is explored. Accordingly, it is found that for L/R-0 greater than or equal to 1 a stopband always exists at any value of E; the condition L/R-0 = 1 gives the widest first stopband with the band narrowing as the ratio L/R-0 increases. For L/R-0 = 0.5 the stopband sharply reduces and becomes vanishingly small when epsilon < 0.10. Illustrative example of such properties is given on considering a corrugated structure with L/R-0 1, R-0 = 2.2 cm, and epsilon = 0.1, which yields a stopband of 1.5-GHz width with the central frequency at 8.4 GHz; it is shown that in a ten-period corrugated guide, the attenuation coefficient reaches 165 dB/m, which makes such structures useful as an RF filter or a Bragg reflector. It is also discussed that by varying L/R-0 baud epsilon we can find a. variety of mode patterns that arise from the - combination of surface and volume modes; this fact can be used for obtaining a particular electromagnetic field configuration to favor energy extraction from a resonant cavity.